Hydra 70 rockets mounted on a U.S. Marine Corps UH-1Y.
The U.S. has announced it will commit thousands of unguided air-to-ground rockets to Ukraine as part of the latest batch of military aid, bolstering the capacity of the country’s aircraft ahead of an anticipated counteroffensive against Russia.
The Pentagon announced the latest $300 million batch of aid on May 3, which for the first time includes the disclosure of Hydra-70 aircraft rockets. A corresponding fact sheet says that more than 7,000 of the Hydra-70s have been committed, the first time the rocket has been stated in the document. This compares to about 4,000 similar Zuni aircraft rockets.
Other systems that use the Hydra-70s have previously been announced. The U.S. has committed the L3Harris Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (Vampire) system, which uses the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System—a laser-guided Hydra-70.
The announcement of providing thousands of the rockets indicates Ukraine’s existing stock of Soviet-era S-8 and S-13 aircraft rockets have largely been depleted and required replacements.
Additional systems in the latest tranche of aid include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems ammunition; 155mm Howitzers and rounds; mortars, Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; AT-4 and Carl Gustaf anti-armor systems; small arms ammunitions; vehicles and other equipment.
