Ukraine to develop Western-built versions of Soviet missiles
Despite the hardware assistance from the West, Ukrainian aviation and air defence are dominated by Soviet and Russian weaponry. Therefore, companies from Europe and the United States are helping Ukraine to develop new versions of the R-27 missiles, used by the MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft, as well as the S-300 missiles for air defence systems.
The US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin revealed the work on the potential production of Russian missiles in American and European factories. This development comes as a result of the situation where—despite incurred losses and recent deliveries of F-16 aircraft—the backbone of Ukraine's military aviation still comprises planes designed in the Soviet Union.
Their primary armament consists of R-27 air-to-air missiles. Although aerial combat between opposing aircraft is rare in Ukrainian skies, these missiles are used, among other things, to destroy cruise missiles and drones. As a result, their stocks are depleting.
R-27 missiles from Western factories
According to the Defence 24 service, there have already been suggestions to integrate Western missiles with Ukrainian aircraft. However, the better solution was the initiation of production for Russian aviation missiles.
They will be fully compatible with Ukrainian aircraft, and thanks to modern improvements (the R-27 was designed in the 1970s), they may prove to be better than the original.
R-27 is a medium-range air-to-air missile (its Western equivalent is the AIM-120 AMRAAM). The two main variants of the missile, R-27R and R-27T, differ in their guidance methods – radar and thermal, respectively.
The missile measures just over 13 feet and weighs 560 pounds, of which 86 pounds is the warhead. The R-27 travels at speeds of up to Mach 4, and its range is 43 to 50 miles. The missile can follow a ballistic curve rather than a straight trajectory towards the target to extend its range.
Western version of the S-300 missiles
In addition to aviation missiles, the West will also initiate the production of air defence missiles for the S-300 systems. Currently, despite losses, after more than two years of war, Ukraine still operates around 170 launchers of this system, but the problem is the depleting stock of missiles.
The solution to this problem – similar to the R-27 missiles – is to start their production in the West, possibly in an improved version.
