The United States will be providing Ukraine with anti-ship missiles – New York Times

The United States has agreed to provide Ukraine with weapons to defend its sea coast.

Militarnyi informs about it with reference to the New York Times.

According to the American publication, in recent weeks, the Ukrainian side has asked the Pentagon to provide anti-ship weapons. Finally, the United States has agreed to this and added the coastal defense weapons to the $800 million package that was already announced this week.

This Wednesday, April 13, 2022, the Pentagon gathered the top arms manufacturers and asked to explore the additional capacities to supply the anti-ship missiles to Ukraine or to the US allies.

American officials admitted that the Ukrainians were prudent when making a request for the anti-ship missiles. Moreover, the successful attack on the “Moskva” cruiser has been proof of that and demonstrated the strength of the coastal missile systems.

They have confirmed that the Russian vessel sank after being hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles.

The Americans believe that this is bringing the strategic changes to the situation on the Black Sea, and this forces Russians to act cautiously and not approach the Ukrainian coast which would significantly complicate the hypothetical naval landing near Odesa.

Previously, the United Kingdom agreed to provide anti-ship missiles for Ukraine. British media reported about the possibility of supplying American RCC Harpoon. However, these weapons are naval-based by the Royal Navy and there is a need for a technical solution to use them as a coastal missile system. Such a solution has been implemented in Taiwan.

In March 2022, it was reported that Boeing had received a contract to supply 100 PUs and 25 radars of the coastal missile system with the Harpoon Block II missiles. The value of the contract is $498 million with the final delivery date being 2028.

Harpoon is an anti-ship missile designed by McDonnell Douglas in the 1970s. Its standard version is using active radar homing, and it could fly above the water surface to evade anti-aircraft weapons. The maximum range of application is 280 km.

There are modifications to be used from the airbases, surface ships, and submarines, as well as for coastal defense.

In the newest versions, the missile’s capabilities have been expanded to hit both surface and coastal targets. Harpoon uses inertial GPS navigation to hit ground and ship targets. The warhead weighing 227 kg is capable of destroying a wide range of targets.