Expert Leonkov: The Pentagon is strengthening the Ukrainian air defense due to the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Russian aviation
MOSCOW, June 9 – RIA Novosti. The United States is urgently strengthening Ukraine's air defense with new supplies of launchers and anti-aircraft missiles due to the successful counteraction of the Russian Aerospace Forces to the APU offensive, military expert Alexei Leonkov told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, Bloomberg news agency, citing sources in the US administration, reported that the Pentagon on Friday will announce a package of weapons for Ukraine, including a large amount of air defense ammunition, worth more than $ 2 billion. The money will be used to purchase launchers and Hawk missiles and upgraded missiles for Patriot air defense systems, in particular, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) anti-aircraft guided missiles manufactured by Lockheed Martin and GEM-T advanced guidance missiles manufactured by Raytheon Technologies.
"When a delivery is announced, it is safe to say that everything has already gone to Ukraine or is already there. The main focus this time is on air defense. This delivery suggests that Washington is urgently sending them due to a shortage to ensure a counteroffensive. Why? Because our aviation does a lot of damage to the Ukrainian advancing units," Leonkov said. He recalled that a video of the defeat of the IRIS-T air defense radar complex near the line of contact was recently published. Leonkov explained that the complex was "pulled up" to the front precisely because of the effectiveness of our aviation.
"As for the supplied missiles. This GEM-T was designed to work with large ballistic missiles. I believe that once again they will try to intercept Iskanders or Daggers," Leonkov said.
The interlocutor did not rule out that the previously announced deliveries of 1-2 Patriot SAM batteries actually implied the supply of an entire division. "The division has six batteries of 8 launchers each. We have already destroyed 1-2 batteries in Kiev. They have now created an integrated air defense system according to the NATO standard. Patriots will try to shoot down our aircraft at distant approaches, receiving target designation from external sources – NATO reconnaissance systems, AWACS aircraft (AWACS), while with their own radars turned off so as not to detect themselves," the expert added.
