After negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on July 23 ended without major progress, Washington announced up to $322 million in military sales to Kyiv.
Two weapons systems which Ukraine already fields will be bolstered with additional equipment and support in the sale, according to a press release from the US Defense Department.
MIM-23 Hawk
Washington says Ukraine will be able to purchase "sustainment related articles and services for the HAWK missile system," worth $172 Million.
HAWK is an acronym for Homing All The Way Killer, a name given to the missile for its ability to be guided until the moment of impact.
The weapon was developed in the 1950s to defend against fast aircraft and some missiles. HAWKs were famously deployed along the Florida coastline during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
The HAWK system is ineffective against many fast and evasive modern missiles and the US military replaced the system with Patriot missiles in the 1990s. However, current threats to Ukrainian cities, which include slow-moving Iranian-designed Shahed drones have given the HAWK new relevance.
Previously supplied versions of the system in Ukraine have reportedly been successful in countering Russian barrages. Ukraine’s military has claimed that a single HAWK system has downed 40 drones and 14 missiles.
Bradley Fighting Vehicle
The US says Ukraine is able to purchase $150 million worth of Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, along with "maintenance, repair, and overhaul capability and related equipment" for them.
The Cold War-era initial development for what evolved into the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was to create armored, airtight transport that could carry troops through a post-apocalyptic landscape following a nuclear exchange.
Bradleys today, which are named after a World War II general, serve largely as “battlefield taxis" designed to transport troops across almost any terrain while shielding them from small arms fire and shrapnel.
After unloading fighters, the vehicles can then cover them with a powerful 25-millimeter autocannon. Bradleys can also be fitted with wire-guided missiles capable of destroying enemy tanks.
The vehicles have been criticized for their relatively soft aluminum armor, and high silhouette, making them prominent targets across open ground.
More than 150 of the Bradleys sent to Ukraine are reported to have been destroyed, abandoned or captured. Seventeen of the vehicles were destroyed in a single battle in southern Ukraine in June 2023.
Washington says the sale of materiel to Ukraine "will not alter the basic military balance in the region."
