“The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Ukraine of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and related equipment for an estimated cost of $285 million," the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.
According to the Pentagon, Kiev has requested to buy another NASAMS system, which includes an AN/MPQ-64F1 Sentinel Radar as well as a Fire Distribution Center (FDC), canister launchers, secure communications, GPS receivers, code loaders, and cable sets, tool kits, test equipment, support equipment, prime movers, generators, technical documentation, spare parts, contractor technical support; and related logistics and program support.
The Pentagon has not said which nation would be offering up its NASAMS for Ukraine this time around.
The NASAMS is a joint product of the US contractor Raytheon and Norway's Kongsberg, designed to serve as a ground-based launch pad for AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM anti-air missiles, which are typically carried by fighter jets. Each launcher system can carry six missiles.
A complete NASAMS battery consists of up to four firing units, each of which includes three missile launchers; one AN/MPQ-64F1 Improved Sentinel radar, one Fire Distribution Center vehicle, and one MSP500 electro-optical camera vehicle.
The latest comes as Ukraine has already been provided with the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system, which is considered to be one of the most advanced technology used by the Pentagon.
However, the Patriot isn't without its own hiccups; in fact, it was recently determined a Patriot system stationed in Kiev had been struck on May 16 by a Kinzhal ("Dagger") hypersonic ballistic missile fired from the Russian supersonic interceptor MiG-31K.
Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told Sputnik that the Kinzhal missiles had destroyed some five Patriot systems in mid-May. At the time, a military expert with the Center for Military-Political Journalism commented the strike proved the Patriot system was "quite vulnerable."