The list of weapons (worth around 775 million euros) that the United States will provide to the Ukrainians to continue resisting the Russian attack has been made public.
Together with anti-tank missiles, TOW e Javelins, to the artillery pieces, this time from 105 mm (probably light gun M-119), to the mini drones and the inevitable ammunition for the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) platforms, or medium range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile) System), also include the AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti Radiation Missile) air-to-surface missiles.
The Pentagon then announces the sending of a very complex weapon system, supplied to a few air forces in the NATO context, Stating that they will be integrated on the aircraft supplied by the Kiev aviation.
The Italian Air Force uses the latest version of the HARMs, the AGM-88E, with which it arms the Tornado IDS-ECR (Electronic Combat Reconnaissance) for SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences) missions.
The Americans decided to integrate the missile on the MiG-29 Fulcrum (at the beginning of the "Special Operation" 51 copies were in service).
"We have established that the integration of the AGM-88 HARM on the MiG-29 is technically feasible", said a Pentagon official who added - “We gave them that ability. This is therefore factual the second tranche of HARM missiles we are delivering to them".
The Pentagon has not specified the version of the HARM integrated on Ukrainian aircraft, it could be the AGM-88D with INS / GPS guidance or the AGM-88E AARGM (Advanced Anti Radiation Guided Missile) version. The latter is characterized by the installation of a new guide unit with GPS receiver, a digital signal processor and a head for the multimode terminal guide, including an updated anti-radiation antenna and a new millimeter wave antenna. These features allow the missile to hit both radiation emitting and non-emitting targets.
Whatever the version sold to Kiev, the installation process on (former Soviet) aircraft not under the Alliance aviation involves a long period of integration, probably started even before Russian forces invaded Ukrainian territory.
Photo: US Marine Corps
