Ready for the invasion: what weapons Ukraine received from NATO countries

For these purposes, Ukraine receives more and more weapons necessary “to protect democracy and the integrity of the state from the encroachments of the enemy".

Alexander Sychev

Over the past few years, and especially months, a number of European states and the United States have supplied various weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces. Among them are the following:

Javelin FGM-148

The Javelin FGM-148 (third generation) anti-tank system has been developed since 1986 by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. In 1996, it was adopted by the US Army. It was widely used during the war in Iraq and a number of other armed conflicts. Designed to destroy armored vehicles and low-flying low-speed targets.

The Javelin system consists of a launcher and a missile. The mass of the launcher is 6.4 kilograms. It includes a passive target acquisition and fire control unit with a built-in daylight and thermal imaging sight. The system works on the principle of "fire and forget".

The Javelin missile is equipped with a high-explosive anti-tank warhead capable of penetrating armor equivalent to 600 - 800 mm. The calculation of the Javelin missile system consists of two people.

The cost of one complex complete with 6 missiles is from 600 thousand dollars for the United States and allies and up to 1.4 million dollars for all other buyers.

About 150 Javelin reloadable launchers and about 1,200 missiles were supplied by the United States and Estonia.

MANPADS Stinger FIM-92

The Stinger FIM-92 man-portable anti-aircraft missile system was developed by General Dynamics and adopted by the United States back in 1981. The complex is designed to destroy low-flying air targets. In addition, the Stinger can fire at unarmored ground or even surface targets.

A Stinger FIM-92 missile launcher being loaded by an AIM-92 missile. The ammunition is stored in a crush-resistant reusable aluminum box.

The Stinger missile uses a passive infrared seeker to aim at an aerial target. After launch, the rocket flies independently along the thermal trail left by the target's engines. The payload weighs three kilograms and is powered by either an impact fuse or a self-destruct timer. The Stinger missile can hit targets flying at an altitude of up to 3.5 km, and the firing range is about 8 km.

Over the entire period of production, more than 70 thousand pieces of Stinger MANPADS were produced. The complex is in service with about 30 countries. They are also actively used by various terrorist groups, which have repeatedly used them against civilian airliners.

With the permission of Washington, these MANPADS were provided to Ukraine by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The total number is unknown.

NLAW

Light anti-tank weapon of the new generation NLAW or RB-57 is a portable missile system developed and manufactured by the Swedish company SAAB.

NLAW is a disposable weapon. The missile is placed and stored in a launch tube made of composite material. The launcher is equipped with an optical sight, a flip-down launcher, grips, a battery pack and carrying straps. The missile is optimized to deal with tanks and other armored vehicles and hit them from above.

The NLAW rocket is just over a meter long and weighs 12.5 kilograms. The effective range of the missile is from 20 to 600 meters. Flight time up to 400 meters is less than two seconds. The missile can be safely fired from enclosed spaces even in the presence of other soldiers.

The UK donated about 2,000 NLAW man-portable anti-tank guided missiles to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Carl Gustaf M4

Carl Gustaf M4, also called M3E1 in the US Army, is another product of the Swedish company Saab. This is the latest generation of multi-purpose anti-tank systems of the Carl Gustaf family, named after the king of Sweden.

It consists of a launch tube with a recoil damper mounted on the breech, two handles for the gunner in the front, a shoulder mount and a sight. The system is capable of firing a wide range of 84 mm munitions, including anti-tank, multi-purpose, anti-personnel and support rounds. HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) ammunition is capable of penetrating up to 400 mm of homogeneous armor.

The ammunition has an effective firing range of up to 400 m against tanks and up to 700 m against buildings and other stationary targets. Some types of ammunition are equipped with a rocket booster to increase the firing range up to a kilometer.

M141 BDM

M141 BDM (Bunker Defeat Munition) is a disposable rocket launcher designed to destroy fortified structures. The system is manufactured by the Finnish company Nammo. The missile is packaged in a rugged, compact disposable telescoping launcher that has all the controls you need to aim and fire.

In carrying mode, the length of the launcher is 810 mm, and when firing it is extended to 1.4 meters. The missile is equipped with a dual-purpose high-explosive warhead, which is effective against stone and concrete structures, as well as lightly armored vehicles. The projectile is capable of penetrating up to 200 mm of armor, 300 mm of brickwork or 2.1 m of sandbags.

The United States supplied approximately 200 M141 hand grenade launchers.

Bayraktar TB2

Officially, the Ukrainian Air Force and Navy have six Turkish strike operational-tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Bayraktar TB2. However, according to Bloomberg, Turkey is likely to have sold significantly more of these drones to Ukraine.

The cruising speed of the Bayraktar TB2 is 130 kilometers per hour, the maximum flight range is 80 kilometers, and the maximum altitude is 8 kilometers. Battery life - up to 27 hours. The UAV is equipped with a modular sensor system and is capable of carrying up to four high-precision projectiles.

After the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Canadian company Bombardier limited the supply of engines to Turkey. In response, Ankara agreed with Ukraine on cooperation in the production of engines for UAVs and even arranged the assembly of its Bayraktar there.

Patrol boats

In 2020, the US State Department approved the delivery of 16 Mark VI patrol boats and equipment to Ukraine. Six boats are being prepared as military aid, and Ukraine can purchase the rest. The oldest of the boats is already seven years old. The US Navy decided to decommission all of its Mark VI boats due to their uselessness and high cost of maintenance. Four boats have already been handed over to the Ukrainian side.

The Mark VI type patrol boat reaches 34 meters in length. These boats can be equipped with variations of two automatic 25 mm Rafael Mk 38 Mod 2 artillery mounts, or 7.62 mm M240 and M134 machine guns, or 40 mm Mk 19 automatic grenade launchers. It is also possible to install guided missiles of the AGM type on these boats -176B Griffin.

Mi-17

In January of this year, the US presidential administration notified Congress of plans to leave five Mi-17V-5 helicopters to Kiev, which were intended for Afghanistan, and were simply being repaired in Ukraine.

Weapon

Since 2015, the United States has supplied Ukraine with large-caliber Barrett sniper rifles, as well as small arms manufactured by the American company Desert Tech, including 12.7mm rifles.

Their number is not disclosed.

This is not a complete list of military equipment that has been supplied to Kiev under the guise of defending democracy in recent times. Deliveries appear to continue. This is indicated, in particular, by the statement of the Czech Republic about its readiness to provide Ukraine with ammunition for self-propelled howitzers.

But the pumping of the armed forces of Ukraine with weapons and equipment, already carried out by the West, has yielded results, according to the study of the Global Firepower Index. Today, Ukraine ranks eighth in the ranking of the armed forces of European countries, second only to France, Great Britain, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Spain and, of course, Russia, with which they are trying to push it. The emerging sense of strength is prompting Kiev to build up troops in the immediate vicinity of the dividing line between Ukraine and the two self-proclaimed Russian-speaking republics of Donbass and Lugansk.