Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense Lloyd Austin announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine, valued at $200 million, during his opening speech at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein-format meeting.
The military aid package includes, among other items, AIM-9M air-to-air missiles, artillery rounds and rockets for HIMARS. But the most interesting part is that he detailed what the AIM-9M missiles are provided for – since there are no ground systems or aircraft that could deploy them.
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Lloyd Austin said, the AIM-9Ms are for "a new air-defense system that we will soon deliver to Ukraine."
On that note, we must point out, our earlier assumption that AIM-9M might have been integrated into the arsenal of Soviet fighter jets seems no longer plausible. Defense Express considered this possibility back in May 2023, when Canada was the first to promise these missiles to Ukraine. From August onward, AIM-9Ms were included in the US security assistance packages as well.
Apparently, the new air defense system announced by Austin is a ground-stationed launch unit. In fact, integrating the AIM-9M for a surface-to-air launch should pose no problem. And here rather than referring to the well-known NASAMS system that successfully adopted the newer AIM-9X Block II missile, we should pay attention to the MIM-72 Chaparral.
This self-propelled anti-aircraft system entered service with the U.S. military in 1969, and it used a slightly adjusted AIM-9D missile. Instead of adding a booster for a surface launch momentum, the engineers achieved lesser frontal area drag by reducing the number of movable fins down to two, and by taking off the rotation mechanisms connected to them, accordingly.
The MIM-72 Chaparral could eliminate air targets in a 5 km range, up to 4 km of altitude (3.1 mi; 2.5 mi). Meanwhile, the original missile launched from an aircraft could travel 18 km to its target, with its seeker locking on the enemy in a 5.5 km range, approximately. The AIM-9M has the same deployment range parameters but a better seeker.
At the same time, it is unlikely that the United States could initiate refurbishment of the MIM-72 Chaparral. Instead, we should remind that the design of this missile system is very close to the Soviet Strela-10. Both required an operator to look through a sighting system and follow the target, directing the missile until its seeker locks on the enemy.
A logical way to improve the effectiveness of this aging equipment would be to install a modern auto-tracking system.
In this context, the news about the USA preparing for a joint air defense production project with Ukraine appears in a new light because as Defense Express suggested, one of the potential fields of cooperation could be on adapting modern Western infrared homing missiles for Ukrainian Soviet-era launch platforms.
This way, it is possible to create a truly new air defense system in a fairly short period of time, that will have an abundance of missiles stockpiled if needed, and which will effectively counter such targets as loitering munitions and cruise missiles.
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