The Phase III MIM-23 Hawk air defense systems will be sold to the United States.

Taiwan News reports about this with reference to the China Times newspaper.

The systems were decommissioned in June 2023.

The purchase agreement was preceded by consultations between the U.S. and Taiwanese governments.

The parties decided that the systems would be handed over to the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense had no further comment, saying the weapons were being disposed of in accordance with its own rules.

According to these rules, surplus military products cannot be sold except in special circumstances approved by the ministry.

MIM-23 Hawk

MIM-23 Hawk is a medium-range anti-aircraft missile system manufactured by Raytheon.

It was adopted by the United States in 1960, and since then, it has undergone several modernization programs.

It has three generations: Phase I, Phase II and Phase III.

Initially, the system was developed to destroy aircraft, later it was modified to intercept missiles.

The first version of the air defense system had a range of up to 25 km and an altitude of up to 14 km.

After modernization, the maximum target interception range was increased to 40 km with a maximum interception altitude of 18 km.

A typical Phase III HAWK battery includes an MPQ-50 radar, one AN/MPQ-62 continuous wave surveillance radar, two AN/PQ-61 high power illumination radars, one fire distribution center, one friend-or-foe transceiver, and six launchers with 18 missiles.

The missile was used by a large number of European countries, including Greece, the Netherlands, France, Germany and others.

The Spanish government approved the transfer of four systems of unknown modification to Ukraine.

In addition to Spain, an unknown number of systems is to be transferred by the United States.