Israel refuses to deliver its Hawk air defense missiles to Ukraine

Joe Biden’s administration is pressuring Jerusalem to deliver to Ukraine its old Hawk air defense missile batteries, which Israel keeps in storage.

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According to the Walla News site, the government has in recent weeks rejected U.S. requests to deliver ten Hawk anti-aircraft batteries and hundreds of interceptor missiles, for delivery to Ukraine, to strengthen its air defense against Russian cruise missile and drone attacks.

Dror Shalom, who heads the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Bureau, told the U.S. Defense Department that Israel has not changed its policy of not sending weapons to Ukraine, and such defensive weaponry is obsolete anyway.

Hawks in Israel

Israel purchased Hawk anti-aircraft systems from the United States in the 1960s and used them in the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In those years, this air defense system, developed by the Raytheon company, was considered a state-of-the-art technology .

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But over the years, the Hawks became obsolete and were replaced by the more modern and capable Patriot systems, also of American origin, which were incorporated after the attacks of Saddam Hussein’s regime with Scud missiles. Later, Israel also developed its own air defense missiles, such as the Iron Dome system, the David Sling and the Arrow, in order to create a multi-layered defense capable of shielding its airspace from attack by aircraft, drones, ballistic missiles, rockets and mortar munitions.

About a decade ago, the IDF withdrew the «Hawk» missiles from active service and dismantled the reserve units that operated the system. A senior Israeli official said that about 10 «Hawk» launcher batteries were moved to IDF (Israel Defense Forces) storage bases along with hundreds of missiles and are there to this day.

See also: Spain to deliver four HAWK air defense systems to Ukraine

Good relations with Russia in Syria

While Israeli officials consider the Hawk launchers and associated equipment to be in such a state that they can only be considered scrap, they do think that several hundred of their missiles could be repaired back to operational status.

But so far, Israel has only sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and has been rejecting U.S. pressure to transfer military aid, as such a move would create tensions with Russia, which would harm Israeli security interests in Syria.