U.S. helping Ukraine obtain, use anti-ship missiles to break Russian naval blockade

The U.S. government is coordinating with European countries who have purchased its advanced anti-ship missiles (ASMs) to get them in the hands of the Ukrainian military, according to officials.

The White House is looking to send two types of ASMs – Boeing’s Harpoon and the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) made by Kongsberg and Raytheon – to Kyiv directly or via a transfer from a European ally that already has them, government and Congressional sources told Reuters.

These ASMs have much longer rangers that allow them to reach ships off the Black Sea coast that Javelin and Stinger missiles cannot

But several challenges have held back any such shipment. One is that allied nations with Harpoons are afraid to be the first or only nation to transfer arms to Ukraine, which may make them a target for Russian retaliation.

A source said one country is considering stepping up to be the first. Once it commits to sending harpoons, the others may follow.

Others obstacles relate to training and equipment. The NSM takes about two weeks of training to operate and can be fired from lad.

The Harpoon is more logistically challenging, as it is usually a ship-based weapon. Two U.S. officials told Reuters that it was considering pulling a launcher off a U.S. ship.

The Ukrainian military sank Russia’s Black Sea flagship, Moskva, last month with a pair of domestically-manufactured R-630 Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles. U.S. and British intelligence estimated that around 400 of the ship’s 510-man crew died.

The Russian Black sea fleet’s commander was arrested by a furious Vladimir Putin and its remaining ships in the area have since moved their patrol routes further away from shore.

The Russian block of the Black Sea is impeding Ukraine’s ability to export wheat, worsening the global food crisis and raising food prices amid record inflation. Russia produces 20% of the world’s wheat exports by weight, while Ukraine produces about 7%.