Taiwan's Hawk missile systems secretly transferred to Ukraine, reveals former Raytheon rep
Tony Hu, the former representative of Raytheon in Taiwan, confirmed the transfer of Taiwanese Hawk systems to Kyiv, facilitated by the Worldwide Warehouse mechanism.
On November 4th, Tony Hu, a former spokesperson for the American defense company Raytheon in Taiwan, revealed that Taiwanese MIM-23 Hawk medium-range surface-to-air missile systems were indirectly supplied to Ukraine, reported Hu on the Taiwanese YouTube channel 打臉名嘴.
According to Hu, these systems have performed effectively in new operational environments. The delivery of the Taiwanese Hawk systems to Kyiv was executed through a third-party mediation mechanism and the efforts of the United States known as the Worldwide Warehouse. This initiative allows allied countries to transfer equipment to one another with Washington's consent.
However, Hu did not specify which countries were involved in transferring the Taiwanese missile systems to Kyiv. He did confirm that the Taiwanese HAWKs have become accessible to allies in need.
Hu mentioned that Taiwan has approximately 900 Hawk systems and pointed out that while these missiles are relatively old, they can be used in conjunction with the Patriot system, noting that this is a relatively new application. He added that Sentinel radars have proven themselves on the battlefield in Ukraine, but indicated that Taiwanese GhostEye radars surpass them. GhostEyes are newer systems, and there might be development-related challenges, making additional time needed for their fine-tuning.
According to Hu, GhostEye systems are already being exported and have been sold to a NATO country, possibly Slovakia.
The MIM-23 HAWK is an American surface-to-air missile system manufactured by Raytheon. Originally, the system underwent significant upgrades in 1971, with new models replacing the old. According to the global intelligence network Jane, the single-shot kill probability previously stood at 0.56, but was improved to 0.85 in the I-Hawk version.
Eventually, in 1994, the Hawk system was replaced by the Patriot in the U.S. military. The last American operator of these missile systems was the Marine Corps until 2002. They were subsequently replaced by the FIM-92 Stinger.
Taiwan began the gradual decommissioning of the HAWK system in 2015, opting instead for the domestically developed Sky Bow III system.
There were prior speculations that the decommissioned HAWK systems, which included about a hundred launchers, might be transferred to Ukraine. However, Taiwan's defense minister later stated that the systems would be dismantled rather than transferred.