Ukraine to Get AIM-9 Air-to-air Missiles from Canada to Challenge
Russian Jets
- Defensemirror.com Bureau
- 12:00 PM, May 26, 2023
Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-9X Sidewinder
Canadian Defense Minister
Anita Anand announced Thursday that Canada is donating 43 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles to Ukraine, from Canadian Armed
Forces (CAF) inventory, and noted that this donation will help Ukraine to
secure its skies in the face of ongoing Russian attacks.
This is the first time
Ukrainian Air Force will get these advanced missiles that is expected to erode the air dominance
of Russian fighters aircraft in Ukraine.
Currently, air defense
systems such as the PATRIOT and IRIS-T have not been effective in bringing down
Russian jets as they go about bombing Ukrainian targets at will.
How effective
will the Sidewinder be for the Ukrainians?
The AIM-9X
was reportedly used by a Turkish F-16 to down a Russian Su-24 jet over during the
Syrian War in November 2015. Ankara claimed it warned
the Su-24 ten times before firing the missile. Putin had acknowledged the
incident, but did not name any missile.
In June 2017, a U.S. Navy
Super Hornet fired a Sidewinder at the Syrian Arab Air Force’s 30-year-old
Su-22 Fitter, but the
missile reportedly missed its target.
According to CNN, the Super Hornet locked
onto the Su-22 at a range of 1.5 miles. The Super Hornet launched an AIM-9X,
and the Syrian pilot loosed flares to lure the infrared guided missile away
from his fighter. The trick worked, and the American missile missed. The
U.S. jet fired an AMRAAM missile, which, using radar guidance, is unaffected by
flares. This time the Fitter went down.
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