Half-truths about the Sea Sparrows being sent to Ukraine!
Through a leak in “"KATHIMERINI" it became known that "A few days ago, Athens reached an agreement to grant 24 Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft and anti-missile missiles"The leak makes a special effort to convince readers that the guided missiles in question were justified. "operationally unnecessary" and that their removal from the reserves of the Greek Armed Forces is meaningless.
"Athens will not deploy systems critical to defense in the Aegean" mentioned in the subtitle of the article. "The 24 missiles being granted are near the end of their useful life and could not be utilized for a long period of time by the Navy", is also mentioned in the article. But in reality, things are not exactly like that. First of all, the Sea Sparrows constitute the armament of significant, numerically and operationally, systems that are in service with the Greek Armed Forces.
First, the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air guided missiles (SAMs) constitute the point-to-point air defense armament of the nine Standard-class frigates currently in service with the Hellenic Navy. Each frigate has a Mk. 29 bow launcher with eight RIM-7M Sea Sparrow missiles ready for launch and reportedly an additional 16 missiles as a backup.
Although the Sea Sparrow weapon system has been in service with the US Navy since 1976, it is the only air defense weapon system available to frigates of this type. Consequently, to fill the nine eight-stage Mk. 29 launchers of the same number of Standard-class frigates, 72 RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles are required, plus an additional 144 missiles as a supplement, for a total of 216 missiles.
Also, the RIM-7 (M version) submarines constitute the missile armament of the 12 short-range air defense systems (SHORADS) type “VELOS”, which the Air Force currently has in service for the anti-aircraft protection of its airfields and other critical infrastructure. According to open sources, the 12 “VELOS” systems have a total of six Super Giraffe – “OMIROS” radars, 20 quadruple RIM-7M missile launchers (with a capacity of 280 missiles) and 44 twin GDF-003 cannons of 35 mm caliber.
As the Sea Sparrow family of guided missiles consists of:
- The unique anti-aircraft defense weapon system available to the “Standard” type frigates, which currently constitute 69% of all frigates in the Fleet, and
- They equip 60% of the Air Force's SHORADS missile launchers (which in total has nine Crotale NG/GR, 4 TOR-M1 and 20 launchers of the VELOS systems), which, among other things, are deployed at the Air Force's forward airfields in the Aegean or can be deployed wherever operationally required.
However, the justification argument that they are not available "systems critical for the defense of the Aegean" It is completely non-existent.
The reality for Sparrow
The two parts of the second justification argument that "The 24 missiles being granted are near the end of their useful life and could not be used for a long period of time by the Naval", is extremely interesting. First of all, it limits the source of the missiles granted to the Navy. It should be noted that over the years, various Greek procurements (Foreign Military Sales Average – FMS) in relation to the surface-to-air version of the Sparrow submarine have been made public and have come to our attention.
For example, on August 11, 1997, the US Department of Defense announced the amendment of the previous contract N00019-97-C-0126, which combined the production of 50 Guidance Control Sections for AIM/RIM-7P missiles, the corresponding wings and related supplies, 30 vertical launch assemblies and 76 AIM/RIM-7M K/V upgrade assemblies to the -7P version for NATO and Greece, with our country's share amounting to 36%.
Also, on August 25, 1997, the US Department of Defense announced the award of a contract for the production of 183 Mk. 58 Mod 4 z rocket engines for RIM-7P (surface-to-air) Sparrow guided missiles, of which 21 were intended for Greece and 40 for Turkey.
Furthermore, on October 31, 2001, the US Department of Defense announced the amendment of the previous contract N00019-97-C-0156 for the production of Sparrow surface-to-air missile engines, of which 197 were intended for our country and an additional 150 are designated as “NATO Greece”.
From the above, it can be concluded that both versions, the RIM-7M and its successor, the RIM-7P, have served in the Navy and it should be considered very likely that all RIM-7M guided missiles have been modernized to the -7P version.
The End of Life
As for the second part of the argument, the End of Life (EL), its accuracy cannot be easily confirmed, so any questions remain unanswered. The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow guided missiles entered service with the Navy in 1981 with the raising of the Greek flag on the first Standard-type frigate (“HELLI” F-450) while the “VELOS” of the Air Force entered service in 1982 when the first system was delivered, approximately one year after the signing of the supply contract (June 6, 1981).
In other words, after approximately 45 years since its introduction into service, even if rocket engine replacements have been made (such as those mentioned above), it should be assumed that the overall stock of missiles of this type faces LOL issues.
On the other hand, given that their replacement with modern technology weapons systems is not evident in the medium term, why is the stockpile being reduced quantitatively and why are the missiles that are approaching their expiration date not being used in training firings for the more complete training of personnel? Perhaps, among the lessons that we should learn after three years of war in Ukraine is that the will, ingenuity and genuine innovation of the Ukrainians also utilize systems that have reached the end of their service life?
However, due to the number (24) of guided missiles that were leaked, it is likely that be granted to Ukraine, It is estimated that this is probably the load of the Standard frigate that will be decommissioned in view of the entry into service of the first FDI-HN type frigate, the “KIMON” F-601.
Of course, the leak completely lacks any consideration for the country. Unfortunately, the phenomenon occurs while Hellenism has been facing the same invasion problem for 50 years that Ukraine has been facing since February 2022, and to this day the Greek government has not even dared to make a connection between the two cases.