WASHINGTON – The US is sending some of the Soviet-made air defense equipment it secretly acquired decades ago to bolster Ukraine’s military in repelling Russian air and missile attacks, US officials said.
The systems, which a US official said includes the SA-8, are decades old and were procured by the US to study technology used by the Russian military and exported from Moscow around the world.
The weapons are well known to the Ukrainian military, who inherited this type of equipment after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the US decision to intervene in its little-known arsenal of Soviet weapons as the Biden administration embarks on a major push to expand Ukraine’s air defense capabilities.
The US has acquired a small number of Soviet missile defense systems over the decades for study by US intelligence experts and to help train American forces.
The Ukrainian government rejected Russia’s deadline to lay down arms in Mariupol; a surveillance camera captured the attack on a shopping center in Kyiv; The United Nations said the war has forced 10 million people to leave their homes. Photo: Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters
The clandestine effort drew public attention in 1994 when a Soviet-made transport plane was spotted within sight of a major thoroughfare at the airport in Huntsville, Alabama. It was later revealed that the plane was carrying an S-300 air defense system that the US acquired in Belarus as part of a secret project involving a Pentagon contractor that cost $100 million, according to a former official who was involved in the mission.
The S-300 – called the SA-10 by NATO – is an advanced long-range air defense system designed to protect large areas over a much larger radius. The SA-8 is a short-range tactical air defense system designed to move with ground forces and provide cover from aircraft and helicopters. While the SA-8 has a shorter range, it is highly mobile and potentially easier to hide.
Some of the Soviet-style weapons were stored at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, which, according to its website, serves as the “Army’s center for missile and missile programs.” At least some of what the US was sending came from that base, officials said, adding that C-17s had recently flown to a nearby airfield in Huntsville.
The S-300 from Belarus was not among the systems being sent to Ukraine, a US official said.
The Annual Government Expenditure Act recently passed by Congress and signed by President Biden includes wording authorizing the government to transfer aircraft, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment either already overseas to Ukraine’s military and North Atlantic Treaty partners Organization to pass in existing stocks.
Aides to Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), who campaigned for the language, said Soviet-era air defense systems would be covered by the new legislation. Congress has been briefed on the US decision, officials said.
Ukraine already has some Russian air defense systems, including the S-300. However, more such systems, capable of operating at medium and long ranges, are needed to counter Russia’s aircraft and missile attacks. The shoulder-launched Stinger missiles provided to Ukraine by the US and NATO countries are only effective against helicopters and low-flying aircraft.
The US hopes that providing additional air defenses will enable Ukraine to create a de facto no-fly zone, as the US and its NATO allies have rejected Ukraine’s appeals for the alliance to establish one. Such a move, Biden administration officials said, could lead to a direct confrontation between the US-led alliance and Russian forces, which it is keen to avoid.
Mr. Biden is traveling to Brussels this week for a NATO summit to discuss “ongoing deterrence and defense efforts” for Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have also visited the Eastern Bloc to discuss ways to strengthen Ukraine’s defense weapons.
“We continue to work with our allies and key partners to provide Ukraine with fresh supplies on a daily basis, including anti-aircraft systems of Soviet or Russian origin and the necessary munitions to deploy them,” a US official said.
Mr Austin visited Slovakia last week to find out if the country would send an S-300 from its arsenal. Slovakia has said it would do so if the US provided her with a replacement, but such an arrangement has yet to be agreed.
American-made weapons like the Patriot air defense system are in short supply and require American military personnel or months of US training to deploy. German and Dutch Patriot units are being sent to Slovakia as a makeshift solution, these governments said.
“We have had talks” with the US, Slovakia’s Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’ told reporters during a joint news conference with Mr Austin on Thursday. “Should there be a situation where we have a reasonable replacement or that we have guaranteed capability for a period of time, we are ready to discuss the future [the] S-300 system.”
—Gordon Lubold, Lindsay Wise, and Courtney McBride contributed to this article.
write to Nancy A. Youssef at [email protected] and Michael R. Gordon at [email protected]
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