WASHINGTON — A $2.98 billion package of arms for Ukraine announced Wednesday by President Joe Biden sends a signal of future support for the nation, with some of the key weapons yet to be put under contract and produced.
Biden emphasized in a statement that the weapons, “our biggest tranche of security assistance to date,” is aimed at ensuring Ukraine “can continue to defend itself over the long term.”
The package, announced on Ukraine’s Independence Day, includes weapons not being drawn down from existing Pentagon inventories so those supplies will take months to deliver, according to a U.S. official familiar with the details.
That includes six additional National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems. The NATO-standard air defense system, produced by Raytheon Technologies Corp., is used to protect the Washington region, including the White House. Like the two NASAM systems already pledged to Ukraine, these haven’t yet been put under contract and produced.
The package doesn’t provide new capabilities for a short-term counteroffensive against Russian forces. Nor does it include more of the long-range HIMARS rocket systems that Ukrainian troops are using to destroy ammunition dumps and logistics systems deep behind Russian lines.
The new military aid is aimed at “a year from now, two years from now” to disabuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of the notion that “he can wait everybody out,” Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters at the Pentagon.
The new package also includes as many as:
—245,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition;
—65,000 rounds of 120mm mortar ammunition;
—U24 counter-artillery radars;
—Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and support equipment for Scan Eagle UAS systems;
—VAMPIRE Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems;
—Laser-guided rocket systems;
—Funding for training, maintenance and sustainment.
