The United States will give Ukraine the AN-TWQ-1 Avenger air defense system
SAM Avenger one of the units of the US Army
The United States continues to help the Kyiv regime with the supply of weapons and equipment. The other day, they announced the preparation of another package of such assistance, which will include two types of anti-aircraft systems. For the first time, it is proposed to send AN / TWQ-1 or Avenger self-propelled short-range anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. At the same time, the announced volumes of delivery and the known characteristics of such an air defense system already make it possible to consider such assistance practically useless.
In a new package
On November 10, the Pentagon announced the allocation of another military aid package. This time, it is proposed to send military equipment worth $400 million to Ukraine. weapons and artillery, missiles, vehicles, equipment and other property. As before, deliveries will be made from stock, from warehouses and from units of the US Army.
A special place in the new package is occupied by air defense systems. It is proposed to transfer to Ukraine a certain number of obsolete MIM-23 Hawk air defense systems, as well as four self-propelled short-range air defense systems AN / TWQ-1 Avenger. The latter will be provided with an unnamed number of FIM-92 Stinger guided missiles.
The exact delivery time of the air defense system is not given. Probably, well-established logistics routes will be used, and the equipment will enter the territory of Ukraine in the coming weeks. Apparently, measures have already been taken in terms of preparing calculations, and the complexes will be able to enter service as quickly as possible.
The supply of used air defense systems of two types is considered by the American side not only as another episode of military assistance. Earlier it was reported that the United States and NATO plan to restore the Ukrainian air defense and recreate a full-scale layered network of radar and air defense systems. Accordingly, the Hawk and Avenger complexes from the next aid package may become one of the first elements of the new air defense system.
Operator's cab, front view
However, the effectiveness of such measures - as well as the entire plan for the construction of Ukrainian air defense - is in question. The negative factors that are well known from other episodes of foreign military-technical assistance are reappearing. Whether foreign partners will take any steps to overcome these factors is unknown.
Decades in service
Like many other types of weapons and equipment transferred to Ukraine, the Avenger air defense system is a fairly old development. It was created in the early eighties by Boeing, and on its own initiative. The aim of the project was to create a modern anti-aircraft system for the ground forces or marines, armed with modern missiles and machine guns.
Thanks to the use of ready-made components, the development of the project took only 10 months, and in the spring of 1984, the Avenger experimental complex went to the test. Fine-tuning and adaptation of the air defense system to the army platforms took several more years. As a result of these events in 1987, the Pentagon placed the first order for serial complexes. By the beginning of the nineties, air defense systems on the HMMWV chassis began to enter combat units and replace outdated anti-aircraft self-propelled guns with guns. The complex was designated AN / TWQ-1, and the Humvee-based combat vehicle was named M1097.
Until the end of the nineties, the US armed forces acquired more than 1 thousand Avenger air defense systems. In addition, such equipment was supplied to some foreign countries. The total output of complexes exceeded 1100 units. In parallel with the production, the process of improving the complex was going on. Experiments were carried out with the replacement of missiles, control equipment, etc.
By the end of the 450s, the Pentagon changed the plans for the development of the army and the ILC, and the Avengers received a limited role in them. Subsequently, the marines completely abandoned such equipment, and the fleet of ground forces was reduced to XNUMX complexes. The released cars were sold abroad or put into long-term storage.
Arms maintenance
Now Ukraine will add to the list of AN / TWQ-1 operators. Probably, the air defense system for her will be taken from storage. After reopening and a simple restoration, four cars will be transported across the ocean. Whether there will be new similar deliveries has not yet been reported.
From ready-made components
AN / TWQ-1 / M1097 / Avenger is a light self-propelled anti-aircraft system with missiles and machine guns, designed for use in military air defense. He must fight tactical and army aviation the enemy, some means of destruction and other targets within a radius of several kilometers.
The rapid development of air defense systems was facilitated by the use of off-the-shelf components. Thus, the HMMWV off-road vehicle was chosen as the base for the complex, which provided the required level of driving performance. A modification of the vehicle with a rear cargo area was used, on which a new combat module was installed.
The module is an operator's cabin, freely rotating around a vertical axis. On the sides of the module are placed two rocking missile launchers, as well as separate casings with an optical-electronic station and a machine gun. Depending on the modification of the air defense system, the configuration of weapons could change.
The bulk of the air defense system received two launchers with four Stinger missiles on each. The FIM-92 missiles were borrowed from the portable air defense system of the same name, designed for infantry. This is a single-stage solid-propellant rocket with an infrared homing head; product length approx. 1,5 m, weight - 10,1 kg. The flight speed reaches 745 m / s, the range is 4,5 km with a target height of up to 3,8 km. The missile is equipped with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead weighing 3 kg.
Start of a rocket
The missiles are supplemented by a 12,7 mm M3 machine gun, a modification of the common M2HB. This version of the machine gun is distinguished by an increased rate of fire, 1200 rds / min. The machine gun is designed to hit targets that managed to break through the missile "echelon".
The operator's workplace received a fairly simple equipment. There is a remote control with pickup and launch controls. A screen is also provided for outputting a signal from the OLS. In this case, the gunner can monitor the airspace through a large windshield. There are devices for receiving target designation from the unit commander or from various locators. The STC communication and control system was also introduced, which improves the ability to work as part of the unit.
Depending on the modification, the crew of the complex consists of two or three people. The minimum crew is the driver in the cab of the vehicle and the gunner in the combat module. When using the STC system, a third crew member is required, whose workplace is in the cockpit.
Objective limitations
In fact, the goal of the AN / TWQ-1 Avenger project was to transfer Stinger missiles to a self-propelled platform using additional control devices. This made it possible to more fully realize the potential of the rocket, as well as to get some new features. At the time of its appearance, such a complex showed fairly high performance and had all the required capabilities.
The strengths of the Avenger include the use of a ready-made platform and weapons that simplify operation and maintenance. The self-propelled complex, unlike the portable one, is equipped with several missiles and a machine gun at once. In addition, he received more sophisticated control equipment, incl. with the ability to share data about goals.
Machine gun shooting
However, there are problems and objective limitations. First of all, this is a general moral obsolescence. Missiles FIM-92, despite all the upgrades, no longer have high technical and combat characteristics. They do not fully correspond to the current tasks on the battlefield. The defeat of modern aircraft, helicopters or UAVs is no longer guaranteed, and a potential enemy has the ability to attack the air defense system from outside the zone of its destruction.
Thus, foreign air defense systems will not give Ukrainian formations any new opportunities. They already have a large number of portable "Stingers", but any effect from such weapons is not observed. It is unlikely that the use of such missiles from a self-propelled platform will change the situation. The AN / TWQ-1 air defense system has more advanced fire control devices, but in the absence of a full-fledged American-style air defense system, their potential cannot be used.
It is also necessary to note the insufficient volumes of supplies. Only four combat vehicles are simply not enough to make up for losses or to strengthen defense. To solve such problems, many times more equipment is needed, but the United States has not yet announced plans to continue deliveries of Avenger systems. In addition, it should be borne in mind that incoming equipment will be gradually destroyed. It is doubtful that the number of air defense systems will generally be able to increase to the desired level.
useless help
Ukrainian troops and infrastructure are under constant air strikes, and therefore the Kyiv regime urgently needs various anti-aircraft weapons. The United States is ready to provide air defense systems and allocate two types of equipment for this at once - Hawk and Avenger. However, once again we are talking about a limited number of legacy systems.
It is obvious that such supplies will have little effect on the combat effectiveness of Ukrainian air defense and will not create noticeable problems for Russian aviation, missiles or UAVs. At the same time, there are no prerequisites for changing this situation. The Kyiv regime has already lost most of its anti-aircraft weapons, incl. military air defense systems. Under such conditions, four Avengers are practically useless, and one cannot count on large quantities of equipment.
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