The New Secretive Gravehawk Air Defense System That the UK Is Giving to Ukraine

During his visit to Ukraine, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the transfer of 150 UK-manufactured artillery barrels to Ukraine, along with additional air defense systems, 15 of which are expected to be delivered in the coming months of 2025. The name of this development is Gravehawk.

There had been no prior information about this weapon, and almost nothing about it can be found online. The reason is not extraordinary secrecy but rather the novelty of the development itself: these air defense systems were created specifically for Ukraine to address the lack of effective means for protecting its skies. The project was funded by the governments of the UK and Denmark. So, what is this weapon?

Gravehawk

This new system is approximately the size of a shipping container mounted on a SupaCat truck chassis. The concept of Gravehawk involves launching "air-to-air" missiles in the format of an anti-aircraft system—from the ground. The innovation lies in the use of aviation missiles, typically employed by fighter jets, from a mobile ground installation.

Missiles are guided using a self-targeting system, simplifying the work for the Gravehawk team.

This is not an entirely new solution but rather an adaptation of existing systems to meet Ukraine's needs and capabilities. It utilizes the same chassis and AIM-132 ASRAAM aviation missiles.

According to Starmer, two installations were tested in Ukraine in 2024. These tests were conducted in secret, without any announcements from the General Staff, the Armed Forces leadership, or the Air Force command. Since the system performed well, the UK decided to scale up the project.

Another important feature of Gravehawk is its compatibility with R-73 missiles. These "air-to-air" missiles have previously been launched from ground installations. When launched from a fighter jet, these missiles have a range of up to 40 km, while from a ground installation, their range is about 12 km.

Previously, R-73 missiles were mounted on ground-based Osa systems and gained further recognition when they successfully downed two Russian helicopters using a Magura 5V naval drone. We covered the modernization of these systems in a separate article.

Thus, the Gravehawk air defense system addresses several of Ukraine’s needs: it provides mobile installations with a range of approximately 10 km and the capability to utilize the R-73 missiles already available in Ukraine.