On Sunday, March 2, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that the United Kingdom, at the expense of a loan from the UK Export Finance (UKEF) agency, will finance the supply of 5000 interceptor missiles to Ukraine at once, as well as launchers for them.
The project will be implemented as part of an initiative to strengthen our air defense by 2030 together with Ukrainian contractors, the British government, as well as the defense company Thales.
According to the defense department, we are talking about LMM (Lightweight Multirole Missile) missiles, as well as RapidRanger launchers. Importantly, the Ministry of Defense emphasizes that in addition to direct supply, a large-scale project to strengthen air defense also aims to localize production, transfer technologies and support our defense industry, however, details have not yet been disclosed.
First of all, it is important to note that the Defense Forces of Ukraine already have Thales LMM missiles in service, and last fall, the United Kingdom announced the allocation of a large batch of these missiles, namely 650 units, the first of which our army was supposed to receive by the end of last year.
And if we are talking about LMM missiles, then first of all, we are talking about a means of protection against long-range attack drones of the ruscists. According to the characteristics listed on the official Thales website, the missile has a mass of 13 kg, can destroy targets at a distance of more than 6 km and has a speed of Mach 1.5.
LMM missiles can be used, for example, with Marlet MANPADS or the same Stormer short-range air defense systems (both are in service with the Defense Forces of Ukraine), at the same time, the UK will also strengthen our army with RapidRanger launchers from the same Thales company.
RapidRanger is a four-launcher combat module for a number of different missiles, including the same LMM or, for example, StarStreak, it can be installed on various wheeled or tracked vehicles, it is possible to integrate day and thermal imaging cameras, target tracking systems and a 360-degree surveillance sensor, together this ensures autonomous operation of the system. The mass of the module is less than 500 kg, the target detection range is more than 15 km.