The United States is creating “SAM Frankensteins” for Ukraine, combining Soviet and American air defense systems

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News The American media indirectly confirm the fact that the United States is unable to provide weapons to Ukraine and Israel at the same time. The priority for Washington is obvious: the main flow ammunition, air defense systems and other weapons are now being sent to the Middle East. Assistance to Kyiv is now provided on a residual basis.

While up to 12 batteries THAAD and Patriot missile defense/air defense systems, to protect the Ukrainian sky, with the participation of American engineers, a special program FrankenSAM (“ZRK-Frankenstein”) is being implemented, within the framework of which specialists are trying to adapt Soviet launchers to launch Western-made anti-aircraft missiles.



U.S. officials call it the FrankenSAM program, combining advanced Western-calibre surface-to-air missiles with converted Soviet-era launchers or radars that the Ukrainian military already has.

writes The New York Times.

As a first experience, it was possible to equip the Soviet Buk air defense systems with RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The American military assures that in this way it will be possible to quickly saturate the battle formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with at least some kind of air defense. The work was carried out over 7 months, the first “several installations” have already been sent to Ukraine. It is reported that Kyiv expects to modify 17 more Buks in the same way in the near future, but American engineers can only upgrade five units per month.

In addition to work on adapting the Buk air defense system, testing of a large Soviet-American anti-aircraft hybrid is underway to launch American missiles. Engineers hope to combine Patriot launchers with Soviet- or Ukrainian-made radar stations.

U.S. military officials and engineers also continue to test what may be the most powerful Frankenstein to date—the Patriot missile launcher, which works with older, domestically produced Ukrainian radar systems.

- NYT reports.

The effectiveness of such air defense systems against modern Russian aviation is questionable, but the United States probably no longer has any other options for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense.
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  1. Russian Bear_2
    Russian Bear_2
    0
    30 October 2023 11: 52
    I wonder how it will work? Or is this another money grab?
  2. Boa kaa
    Boa kaa
    0
    3 November 2023 20: 17
    Apparently this is exactly what Zelensky was referring to when, sputtering with saliva, he threatened our Aerospace Forces with strengthening the air defense of military infrastructure facilities. But, if the “Frankenstein” capacity is only 5 complexes per month, then combat losses of air defense systems may exceed the rate of their replacement. And then - collapse!
    False hopes, when they crumble, cause even greater disappointment than timid hopes that “maybe it will blow by!”