U.S. Sending Soviet Air Defense Systems to Ukraine That Were “Secretly Acquired”

Greater escalation is in the air as two nuclear-armed superpowers continue stumbling toward a hugely alarming WWIII scenario as the Russian invasion of Ukraine reaches almost a full month. The Wall Street Journal on Monday has cited US defense officials who say Washington is covertly sending Soviet-made air defense equipment to Ukraine to help repel Russian air power. It seems this is the Biden administration’s ‘alternative’ to directly imposing a no-fly zone, yet it’s still a step in that direction.

“The U.S. is sending some of the Soviet-made air defense equipment it secretly acquired decades ago to bolster the Ukrainian military as it seeks to fend off Russian air and missile attacks, U.S. officials said,” WSJ writes. “The systems, which one U.S. official said include the SA-8, are decades old and were obtained by the U.S. so it could examine the technology used by the Russian military and which Moscow has exported around the world.”

The Pentagon has not yet officially confirmed the breaking story, but it comes as the administration is facing immense bipartisan pressure from Congress to “do something” more than merely sending smaller arms. It must be remembered that Moscow has clearly warned it will attack as “legitimate targets” any inbound weapons shipments to Ukraine from Western backers.

The WSJ report says that S-300 systems are not part of what’s being considered for the shipment, and details further:

The secretive efforts received public attention in 1994 when a massive Soviet-made transport plane was observed at the Huntsville airport within sight of a major highway…

Some of the Soviet-style weapons have been kept at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, which its website notes serves as “the Army’s center for missile and rocket programs.” At least some of what the U.S. sent was from that base, said officials, who added that C-17s recently flew to a nearby airfield at Huntsville, Alabama.

The Russians will surely seen this as a massive escalation, likely resulting in threats that such shipments of any anti-air defenses will be directly targeted.

Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission