The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, thanked his Spanish counterpart, Margarita Robles, "for Spain's exemplary humanitarian and security support to Ukraine".
This is indicated by the head of North American Defense in a message on his official Twitter account, in which he reveals the content of the conversation held with Robles to coordinate urgent security assistance for Ukraine, which includes air defense systems.
In addition, he highlights that he has reaffirmed with the Spanish minister "the strong defense relationship" between the two countries, and both politicians have agreed to continue with the coordination work on the war in Ukraine and other important issues.
The Spanish Ministry of Defense searches the warehouses of material decommissioned from the US Army for Hawk missile launchers to replace the four that it has just sent to Ukraine to help the Government of Volodimir Zelenski to counteract Russian air attacks.
The US withdrew this veteran anti-aircraft defense system a few years ago, however, it keeps part of the equipment in weapons depots under the classification of surplus material in case any allied user needs spare parts or components that are part of the system (launchers, radar, transmissions, missiles...).
The department headed by Margarita Robles has even sent a lieutenant colonel to the United States to find out the status of the stored material, according to the newspaper 'The Objective'.
The Spanish Army specifically needs launchers of the PIP (Product Improvement Plan) III version of the Hawk system. This model is the one currently in service with the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Command (MAAA). It is one of the latest updates to the anti-aircraft system designed more than half a century ago by the American firm Raytheon.
Before delivery, the MAAA had six Hawk missile batteries, with six launchers each, in the 74th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment (RAA), spread over two Hawk missile groups, one at the El Copero base (Seville) and another in the Cortijo de Buenavista barracks (Cádiz). One of these batteries is now 'limp' after the donation to Ukraine.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the launchers left the El Copero base in a land convoy in the middle of this week bound for the logistics hub located in southern Poland, which concentrates and then delivers to Ukraine all the material donated mainly by the NATO countries and the European Union, gathered around the Contact Group for Ukraine.
The launchers delivered by Spain are part of the Hawk system, also made up of radars, target tracking stations, command posts and missiles. Although neither Spain nor Ukraine have provided information in this regard, everything indicates that other countries will have to provide the missing equipment so that the Ukrainian Army can operate this anti-aircraft defense system.
