US pledges largest arms delivery with $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine

Europe, News, US August 10, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The Biden administration announced another $1 billion in new military aid for Ukraine — the largest weapons package yet since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in late February.

“This is the largest single drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment utilizing this authority to date,” Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said announcing the new weapons shipment. “The package provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons and equipment — the types of which the Ukrainian people are using so effectively to defend their country.”

On August 8, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced the eighteenth Presidential Drawdown of equipment valued at up to $1 billion in additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. Presidential drawdown authority (or PDA) allows the U.S. president in certain circumstances to withdraw weapons, ammunitions and material from existing U.S. military stocks and provide that to other nations.

“The United States continues to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its evolving battlefield requirements and our allies and partners have stepped up to provide billions of dollars in their own assistance,” Kahl said.

The latest security assistance package doesn’t contain additional HIMARS launch systems but it includes additional munitions for systems the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine.

The latest $1 billion security package includes:

Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
75,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition
20 120mm mortar systems and 20,000 rounds of 120mm mortar ammunition
Munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS)
1,000 Javelin and hundreds of AT4 anti-armor systems
50 armored medical treatment vehicles
Claymore anti-personnel munitions
C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment
Medical supplies, including first aid kits, bandages, monitors, and other equipment.

U.S. Army M142 high mobility artillery rocket system — ^{A U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) launches ordnance during RED FLAG-Alaska 21-1 at Fort Greely, Alaska, Oct. 22, 2020. (Image Credit: Air Force Senior Airman Beaux Hebert)}

One type of munition the United States has sent to Ukraine for use in the HIMARS is the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System or GMLRS, which are precision-guided systems with a range of about 70km. “The munitions themselves, these GMLRS … are having a very profound effect,” he said. “This is a 200-pound warhead, it’s kind of the equivalent of an airstrike, frankly — a precision-guided airstrike. These are GPS-guided munitions. They’ve been very effective in hitting things that previously the Ukrainians had difficulty hitting reliably.”

Kahl said the Ukrainians have used the HIMARS along with provided GMLRS rockets to hit Russian command and control nodes, sustainment and logistics hubs, and key radar systems.

Overall, the United States has committed around $9.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Biden came into office. Approximately $9.1 billion of this was pledged since the beginning of Russia’s invasion on February 24.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States stands with allies and partners from more than 50 countries in providing vital security assistance to support Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia’s aggression.

“We will continue to consult closely with Ukraine and surge additional available systems and capabilities carefully calibrated to make a difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s eventual position at the negotiating table,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.