Hawks, being birds of prey, have naturally lent their group moniker to a series of aerial warfare systems over the past century. 100 years ago, the Curtiss P1-B Hawk biplane made her maiden flight, followed by the P-36 Hawk monoplane a dozen years later, and then of course, three years later there was the P-40 Warhawk immortalized by the Flying Tigers. Fast-forward to the jet age, and along came the F-117 Nighthawk “stealth fighter.”
On the other side of the aerial warfare ledger, the “Hawk” name also lends itself readily to certain antiaircraft defensive weapons, including one seemingly obsolescent sexagenarian surface-to-air missile (SAM) system that continues to fight on in the present day, including in Ukraine. Say hello to the MIM-23 Hawk missile.
MIM-23 Hawk Early History and Specifications
The MIM-23 (Mobile Interceptor Missile-23) HAWK (yes, it’s an acronym: “Homing All the Way Killer”) began its development phase in 1952, followed by its first test launch in 1956, and entry into operational service with the U.S. Army in 1959, manufactured by Raytheon. It was – and still is – a medium-range SAM, designed as a more mobile counterpart to the MIM-14 Nike Hercules; in addition to greater mobility, the HAWK had an advantage over the Hercules in low-level defensive applications thanks to the addition of a continuous wave semi-active radar homing guidance system.
In 1971, the Improved Hawk, or I-Hawk program was initiated. Spatial limitations prevent me from going into lengthy technical detail, but long story short, probability of kill (“Pk”) was improved from 0.56 to 0.85, a 51.7% boost in capability.
Specifications include a 119-lb warhead, a total weight of 1,290 pounds, a length of 16 feet 8 inches, a diameter of 14.5 inches, and a wingspan of 3 feet 11 inches.
Combat-Proven Hawk
Ironically, the MIM-23’s first kill was a willful friendly-fire incident: on 5 June 1967, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) used one of their Hawks to down a damaged IDF Dassault MD.450 Ouragan that was in danger of crashing into a nuclear research center. Less than two years later, the Israelis also made the first shootdown of an actual enemy aircraft, killing an Egyptian MiG-21 “Fishbed.” The Israelis got plenty more shootdown with the Hawk against their Arab adversaries during the 1967-1970 War of Attrition, and the Kuwaitis managed a couple of confirmed kills against Saddam Hussein’s invading Iraqi forces back in August 1990.
Hawk Renaissance in Ukraine
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” as the saying goes, and that proverb is being proven true repeatedly in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as both sides of that war (or “special military operation,” as Vladimir Putin still insists on calling it) are providing a new lease on life to seemingly obsolescent weapons, from the 9x18mm Makarov pistol to the T-54/55 and T-62 main battle tanks (MBTs). Well, you can now add the MIM-23 Hawk to that list as well.
Last week, Forbes published an article by Vikram Mittal titled “The Hawk Air-Defense System: Cold War Relic To Ukrainian Asset.” As that author elaborates:
“The Ukrainian military received Hawk systems from the Spanish military earlier in the war, and the U.S. subsequently provided them with additional refurbished Hawk missiles. Ukrainian troops have been trained on these systems in Spain since late 2022, and it is likely that they are already in use in Ukraine…Another advantage of the Hawk system is its specific design to target Cold War-era Soviet missiles and aircraft. As the Russians deplete their stocks of modern equipment, they are increasingly relying on older equipment from their weapon stockpiles…Moreover, the Hawk system is highly effective against both new and old Russian aircraft.”
Personal Experience with the Hawk
This journalist has some personal, hands-on experience working on the Hawk missile program, albeit in a minor, tangential role, and moreover it was, to use the Star Wars phrase, “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” Back in the summer of 1994 – in-between my freshman and sophomore year at the USC School of International Relations – I worked a summer temp job as a warehouse clerk for Airframe Manufacturing & Supply Co. Inc. in Valencia, Calif, which at the time was an American subsidiary to Nippon Aircraft Supply (NAS), a major contractor for the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces (JASDF).
Looking back (gosh, was that really 29 years ago already), that was a really fascinating snapshot of international security affairs in general and Japan’s role in it at that point in time. The Cold War had ended less than three years prior, and America and her allies were reaping the so-called “peace dividend.” Japan was still a highly pacifistic nation; she was still mostly dependent on America’s security umbrella, spending only 1% of her GDP on defense – Shinzo Abe’s and Fumio Kishida’s major boosts to Japan’s military budget was still decades away. Yet, because of the sheer size of the Japanese economy, in terms of sheer expenditure of dollars. Japan had something like the second- or third-largest defense budget in the world, and she was the sixth-largest foreign customer of the U.S. defense industry.
Anyway, in that minor role. I was inspecting transistors, diodes, and semiconductors of JASDF F-15-J Eagles, Patriot missiles, and I-Hawks. What’s especially interesting was to see that JASDF was using I-Hawks alongside Patriots during the same year that the U.S. Army completely phased out the former SAM system in favor of the latter.
Where (Else) Are They Now?
Besides Ukraine, the Hawk remains in service with over a dozen other nations’ military forces, including Taiwan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch and The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).
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