Canada to Deliver Sidewinder Missiles to Ukraine – Canada’s Defense Minister

On May 26, Canada’s Defense Minister, Anita Anand, announced additional military assistance would be given to Ukraine during the twelfth meeting of the Ramstein Contact Group on Ukraine's defense, according to the Canadian Ministry of Defense (CMoD).

"Minister Anand further announced that Canada is donating 43 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles to Ukraine, from the Canadian Air Force (CAF) inventory, and noted that this donation will help Ukraine to secure its skies in the face of ongoing Russian attacks," the dispatch said.

The AIM-9 Sidewinder ["AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile"] is a well proven, short-range air-to-air missile which can be fired by jet aircraft in service with Ukraine its latest variants remain standard equipment in most Western air forces.

The Sidewinder missile got its nickname because of its seeker head, which orients itself to the thermal silhouette of its target in flight, much like the American horned rattlesnake, which hunts by the heat radiated by its prey and lives in the desert close to the missile’s design office.

 "Canada's support for Ukraine is unwavering. When I travel across Canada, I see Ukrainian flags on homes, small businesses, and cars – because Canadians understand that Ukraine's fight to defend itself is also a fight for sovereignty, freedom, and independence. At today's productive meeting, we discussed Ukraine's most pressing defense priorities. I reaffirmed that Canada will support Ukraine in the short and the long term," the Minister commented.

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CMoD further stated that delivery of the small arms and ammunition donation packages announced in April are on track. Machine guns, assault rifles, cleaning kits, and magazines have already been delivered to Ukraine, with a further 1 million rounds of 5.56mm ammunition and 4,800 assault rifles scheduled to be delivered in the coming weeks. All 21,000 small arms and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition are expected to be in Ukraine by the summer.

Since the beginning of 2022, Canada has provided more than CAD 8 billion (US$ 5.8 billion) in assistance to Ukraine, including more than CAD 1 billion in military aid.

"This includes eight Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks, one armored evacuation vehicle, National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) with associated ammunition, 39 armored combat support vehicles, anti-tank weapons, small arms, M777 howitzers, and associated ammunition, high-resolution drone cameras, winter clothing, etc.", the statement said.