The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles will be part of the next military aid package the U.S. is preparing to provide to Ukraine.
Sea Sparrow missiles can be launched from the sea or on land to intercept aircraft or cruise missiles. In a bit of battlefield innovation, the Ukrainian military has managed to tweak its existing Soviet-era BUK launchers as a launch platform for American-made rockets.
Up to this point, Taiwan has been the only country to operate the ground-launched version of the missiles, while the U.S. and multiple allied navies use the ship-mounted version.
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles. The system was developed in the early 1960s from the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile as a lightweight "point-defense" weapon. Fifty years after its development, the Sea Sparrow remains an important part of a layered air defense system.
The RIM-7 single-stage missile has a semi-active radar homing head. The starting weight of the RIM-7 is 225 kg, and the weight of the warhead is 40.5 kg. For comparison, the missile from Buk 9M38 has a launch weight of 685 kg.
The missile can shoot down targets at a maximum range of 19 km, with an altitude ranging from 8 meters to 15 km.
Source: Politico
