Ukraine receives NASAMS air defense system from Canada

Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said that the long-awaited American-made NASAMS missile defense systems, which the Canadian government helped purchase, have been delivered to Ukraine.

This is reported by CBC News.

Thus, Blair stated at a meeting of the House of Representatives Defense Committee that the advanced surface-to-air missile systems (NASAMS), for which Ottawa promised to allocate USD 406 million almost two years ago, are now in the hands of the Ukrainians.

"I can't give you more information about this for operational security reasons, but we have finally been able to make the delivery - and I think it will be very significant because it will allow them to protect communities," Blair told the committee.

It is indicated that the government tried to speed up the delivery by taking advantage of a larger purchase that the US government was making. The planned USD 406 million purchase was announced in January 2023, but the Department of National Defense told the publication in September that the federal government did not transfer funds to Washington to pay for the system and start the process until March 2023.

Washington could not begin contract negotiations with manufacturers until it had its own and Canadian funds in hand, and had not received congressional approval for the NASAMS purchase. Congress gave the green light in May 2023.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, recently it became known that the NASAMS air defense system purchased by Canada is on its way to Poland and will soon be delivered to Ukraine.