Thread by @TrentTelenko

This is the text from the article mentioned below:

"The package will for the first time include radar-guided Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles, which can be launched from the sea or on land to intercept aircraft or cruise missiles. In a bit of battlefield innovation,

PSU SAM🧵

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https://twitter.com/paulmcleary/status/1611155617158254593

...the Ukrainian military has managed to tweak its existing Soviet-era BUK launchers to fire the Sea Sparrow, two people familiar with the matter said. Up to this point, Taiwan has been the only country to operate the ground-launched version of the missiles, while...

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...the U.S. and multiple allied navies use the ship-mounted version."

The Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) (RIM-162) looks a whole lot like the Buk missile and the latest Blk II variant entered service in 2020 with the same active radar seeker
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missilethreat.csis.org/defsys/evolved…

...as the AIM-120 AMRAAM.

It is unclear which variant of the ESSM is being provided to Ukraine, but its size 3.64 m in length and 0.254 m in diameter and range of around 50 km is a good fit for the Buk physically & performance wise.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-120_A…
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The USA, Australia and 10 NATO navies use Sea Sparrow and the newer ESSM variants, so there is -theoretically- a deep reserve of the missile warshot to draw upon to rearm Ukrainian Buk launchers.

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natoseasparrow.org

The easiest ESSM to integrate into the Ukrainian Buk-M1 9A310M1 TELAR would be the ESSM Block II, as it would not need the radar illuminators to paint targets like older ESSM Block I and earlier Sea Sparrows do.

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The problem is there were not that many ESSM Block II built since 2020.

This video will show you the visual & performance differences between a Sea Sparrow & an ESSM Block I.

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The ability of an all ESSM to be placed four to a Mk 41 vertical launch cell makes them highly prized in NATO navies for the deep magazines of interceptors. While the active seeker of the Block II variant means you cannot overwhelm the 'painting'
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...or 'illuminating' Mk 51 radars of NATO frigates and destroyers. Thus smaller NATO surface ships can protect convoys from saturation cruise missile strikes.

The harder integration issue is getting the X-band 9S35M1 Fire Dome radar on 9A38M1 TELAR in Buk M1 system...

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...to mimic the Mk51 X-band illuminating radar used with the ESSM Block I and earlier Sea Sparrows.

If that is what Ukraine and it's NATO allies have kludged together.

Then Ukraine's Buk's don't have to be replaced with any NATO SAM batteries available.
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Ukraine's Buk's can fight the rest of the war firing old NATO Sea Sparrow/ESSM as reloads.

For which there are literally thousands sitting in NATO naval warehouses.

This is a strategic level change in the Russo-Ukrainian Air War.

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Russia can no longer count on running Ukraine out of surface to air missiles in 2023.

This is not a "Great Hawk Round Up" that I've mentioned before.

https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1607807677349888004

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It is something a whole lot better.

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