 U.S. to buy MIM-23 Hawk air defense missiles from Taiwan for delivery to Ukraine. The U.S. is re-buying decommissioned MIM-23 Hawk missile systems sold to Taiwan to provide them for Ukraine as part of a military aid package. The China Times reported it referring to the source. The source of the newspaper states that it is about the Phase 3 MIM-23 Hawk decommissioned in June. This agreement was preceded by consultations between the U.S. and Taiwanese governments. Surface to air missiles will be transferred to the Ukrainian army to combat Russian drones and low-altitude aircraft. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence declined Taiwan News' request for comment but said the weapons were being disposed of in accordance with regulations. Taiwan will replace the decommissioned weapons with the SKY-BO-3 TK-3 system. The MIM-23 Hawk is an American medium-range anti-aircraft missile system developed by Rayvion. It entered service in 1960 and has undergone several modernization programs since then. It has three generations, Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3. Initially, the system was developed to destroy aircraft but later it was modified to intercept missiles. They were in service with a large number of European countries including Greece, the Netherlands, France, Germany and others. According to the Taiwan Air Force, Hawk missiles were used in 41 combat exercises between 1965 and 2017, hitting their targets more than 90% of the time.