NASAMS and Aspide air defense systems arrived in Ukraine as part of military aid from Western allies.

The Ministry of Defense said that the new weapon will significantly strengthen the Armed Forces.

The USA provided two NASAMS systems, Ukraine will receive six more later.

The new weapon, together with the IRIS-T air defense system and other air defense equipment transferred by Germany, will allow to protect the sky from massive Russian missile attacks.

TSN.ua found out what features the NASAMS and Aspide air defense systems have and how they will strengthen Ukraine's air defense.

NASAMS

The editor-in-chief of the Defense Express military portal

Oleg Katkov

said on the TSN YouTube channel that

NASAMS

is the most modern medium-range anti-aircraft missile system that the Allies could in principle deliver.

Such a complex protects, in particular, the White House in Washington

.

According to him,

NASAMS uses three types of rockets

:

"AMRAAM-ER destroys targets at a range of up to 40 km. The AIM-120 is an air-to-air missile that has been adapted for ground launch. It is the best air-to-air missile in principle in terms of the most confirmed enemy aircraft destroyed. It allows you to destroy targets at a range up to 20 km. There is also an AIM-9X missile, which is responsible for destroying targets in the near zone."

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

As Katkov reported, literally

a month before the transfer of the complexes to Ukraine, the manufacturers carried out their modernization

in order to intercept a large-scale air attack by cruise missiles.

This will make it possible to maximize the effectiveness of repelling "classic" Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.

The military expert explained the advantage of NASAMS over the Soviet Buk, Osa or C300 complexes.

According to him,

Soviet air defense systems can fire at 1-2 targets, while American NASAMS or German IRIS-T have multi-channel capabilities

and can fire at dozens of targets in one salvo.

"This is extremely important, because the enemy does not launch cruise missiles one at a time, but flies 8-10-12-16 at once. One NASAMS complex can destroy them single-handedly," he explained.

Aspide

Spada Aspide

ground -based air defense system

is a joint Italian-Swiss development.

This short-range anti-aircraft missile complex was handed over to Ukraine by the Spanish government.

The Spaniards indicate that their

"Aspids" are designed for "stationary" work and for the protection of strategic objects, such as industrial enterprises, airfields or seaports

, writes Zn.ua.

Aspide is the name of multi-purpose missiles used on land, ship and air platforms.

It is a family of European air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.

The air defense system has a range of 35 km, a height of 8000 m, a flight speed of 1324 m/s, a warhead weight of 30 kg

.

Aspide can be used in conjunction with other anti-aircraft artillery systems to work more effectively on air targets at low altitude.

It can work as part of an echeloned air defense system and exchange data with air defense systems of other types.

Photo: Defense express

How the position of the West has changed regarding the protection of the Ukrainian sky

In a column on Liga.net, the

adviser to the Minister of Defense,

Oleksiy Kopytko , recalled how the West's position regarding the provision of air defense systems to Ukraine had changed during the months of the war.

"In August 2021, during a visit to the United States, then Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Reznikov raised the issue of transferring air defense systems to Ukraine... Then the alternatively gifted public in Ukraine laughed in an organized manner. They said, are you kidding, what kind of air defense/missile defense. In November 2021 (equally a year ago) during a visit to Washington already in the status of the Minister of Defense, Reznikov asked to transfer the Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. Then the answer was - it is impossible. It is impossible and that's all..." - writes Kopytko.

The minister's adviser noted that the first 100 Stinger complexes appeared in Ukraine at the end of January 2022 (from Lithuania with the permission of the US).

To date received (if conditionally arranged by echelons)

:

0. MANPADS – Stinger, Piorun, GROM, Mistral, LMM Martlet, Starstreak.

1. SAM and ZAK - Stormer HVM, Dual Mount Stinger, Aspide, Gepard.

Crotale approach.

2. (conditional "BUKs") - IRIS-T air defense system, NASAMS.

Hawk on approach.

3. (conditional C-300) – is actively discussed in the applied context of SAMP-T.

Plus, a number of Soviet-style systems were purchased and received.

"There is no question of any saturation yet, the air defense/anti-missile defense systems are clearly insufficient.

But the main thing is that a tectonic shift has taken place. There will only be an increase

. On the one hand, this is pleasing. On the other hand, enlightened Western figures cause extremely mixed feelings. Because today they speak with the words that were addressed to them a year ago. Letter for letter. And this insight has a terrible price. The work continues.

The next goal is airplanes

," Kopytko emphasized.

The Air Force explained the uniqueness of Ukrainian air defense

The peculiarity and uniqueness of the air defense system of Ukraine is that it is created from a complex of all available means, said the spokesman of the command of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Yuriy Ignat

.

"The

uniqueness of our air defense is its creation from everything we have

. These are portable anti-aircraft missile complexes that are in all the Defense Forces, not only in the Air Force. Mobile fire groups with MANPADS and anti-aircraft installations have been created, which are deployed in throughout the territory of Ukraine in dangerous directions. Fighter aircraft are operating, which are used to intercept drones and cruise missiles. Also, anti-aircraft missile troops, which work both on the front line and cover large cities and important state facilities," he noted. 

Ignat added that Ukraine has a very large territory, so there is a lack of firepower and detection means to completely cover the country from the air.

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