Frankensam Project: The US integrated Patriot missiles with Soviet SPR

American weapons have successfully converted the Buk's installation to launch SEA Sparrow missiles. The AIM-9M Sidewinder Air Base launch system was also created using the Soviet radar. American weapons converted the launcher of the Soviet era, which are in service with the Armed Forces, under the missiles of Western samples. As a result, systems called by American officials Frankensam came out. This was reported on October 28 by The New York Times.

The publication states that such hybrid systems have already been tested at the White-Sandes landfill, New Mexico. One Frankensam variant combines the Beech starting installation and American SEA Sparrow missiles, another. In another embodiment, the Soviet radar was used to launch US missiles Sidewinder. According to official sources, such systems should enter Ukraine in the near future.

"In combination of the Frankensam system contribute to the elimination of critical gaps in the air defense system of Ukraine, which is the most important task that stands today to the country today," said US Defense Minister Assistant Laura K. Cooper. The Frankensam program appeared at the end of 2022, when the Ukrainian authorities appealed to the Allies to help find rockets for about 60 Soviet starting installations and "Beech", which are in service with the Armed Forces.

At the same time, the Ukrainian side was proposed to convert the launcher to the anti -aircraft missiles of the NATO caliber, transferred to Washington. The Pentagon agreed to this proposal, and within seven months US experts have started integration of SEA Sparrow missiles, the supply of which was approved in the White House. As a result, the program was successfully implemented, and in one month engineers managed to convert five Soviet SPR.

Another development is an impromptu ground launcher that uses Soviet radars to shoot old American rockets, which are commonly used on fighters. Frankensam uses American supersonic missiles AIM-9M Sidewinder, designed in the 1950s, which are used on F-16 and F-18 fighters. They are now part of a makeshift ground launcher, which cooper called innovative.

Defense Analyst at the Washington Institute of Hudson Kanapoglu, highly appreciated the idea of ​​integration of Soviet equipment with more modern Western missiles. According to him, such systems make it possible for Ukrainian forces to apply weapons to practice, which "is dust on the shelves in the capitals of NATO countries. " Earlier it was reported that the first footage of combat work of the American anti-aircraft missile complex MIM-23 Hawk appeared on the network.