The UK Ministry of Defense has officially confirmed the transfer of 13 Raven mobile air defense systems to Ukraine, which are already in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are actively used to defend against Russian air threats. This was announced by Minister for Veterans Affairs Al Carne.
The Raven system is a British short-range mobile air defense system specially developed for Ukraine. It is mounted on a Supacat HMT 600 off-road vehicle chassis and adapted to launch AIM-132 ASRAAM missiles, originally intended for air combat. This allows the system to be quickly deployed to combat drones, helicopters, low-flying aircraft, and, with limited effectiveness, cruise missiles. According to the Ukrainian military, Raven systems have already destroyed more than 100 Russian drones and missiles.
In addition, the UK has transferred two prototypes of the new Gravehawk system, developed jointly with Denmark. Gravehawk is designed to protect critical infrastructure from long-range strikes and uses R-73 (AA-11 Archer) missiles, which are already in service with Ukraine, simplifying logistics. Under the contract, the first batch of 15 additional Gravehawk systems is expected to be delivered soon.
These deliveries are part of a broader £600 million air defense support package from the UK, which includes missiles, automated turrets to combat drones, and other means of countering Russian attacks on energy infrastructure and civilian targets.