26 October 2022, Wednesday, 10:22 946

First NASAMS systems being already deployed in Ukraine – manufacturer’s director general

Редактор: Roman Vaniyan

The U.S. has already handed over the first two NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine to help strengthen air defense. Their deployment is already underway.

This follows from a statement by Greg Hayes, the CEO of Raytheon Technologies, a manufacturer of air defense systems, made in an interview, Defense News reports.

"We have just delivered two NASAMS complexes. We handed over two complexes to the U.S. government a few weeks ago. They are already being deployed in Ukraine today," the head of the company said.

"It's a short-range air defense system, and it can fire an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile and can shoot down anything in the sky, from drones to ballistic missiles and fighter jets," Hayes added.

NASAMS - a mobile anti-aircraft missile system. Its main purpose is the fight against maneuvering aerodynamic targets at low and medium altitudes.

Experts note that in order to cover the sky over a city the size of Kyiv, two or three NASAMS or Iris-T are needed.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on October 12, Head of the Presidential Office Andrii Yermak said that historic decisions regarding the closure of the Ukrainian sky were being made that day.

On October 11, John Kirby, the coordinator of the U.S. National Security Council for strategic communications, said that Washington is working on the accelerated supply of NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine.

On October 10, U.S. President Joseph Biden promised Ukraine advanced air defense systems.