Dan Lamothe and Karoun Demirjian report in the Washington Post, image EurAsian Times:
The Biden administration is poised to dramatically expand the scope of weapons it is providing Ukraine. Preliminary plans included Mi-17 helicopters, howitzer cannons, coastal defense drones, armored humvees and protective suits to safeguard personnel in the event of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack. Ukraine is seeking additional unmanned aircraft, air-defense systems, artillery, armored vehicles, combat aircraft and anti-ship missiles. The new aid package could be worth $750 million. “We have aircraft available now for immediate transfer.”Preliminary plans circulating among government officials and lawmakers in Washington also included Mi-17 helicopters, howitzer cannons, coastal defense drones and protective suits to safeguard personnel in the event of a chemical, biological or nuclear attack, the officials said, though they cautioned that it was not immediately clear if all of those items would end up in the final aid package.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby declined to comment. On Tuesday night, after this article was published, another U.S. defense official said the Russian-made helicopters would not be included.
The prospective new delivery, first reported by Reuters, comes on top of the more than $2.4 billion in U.S. security assistance provided to Ukraine since President Biden took office last year, including $1.7 billion in aid since Russia launched its invasion Feb. 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his administration have pleaded for more sophisticated weapons to counter the Russian military’s technological advantages. Ukraine’s military has defied initial expectations and mounted a ferocious resistance, having already staved off a bloody, weeks-long assault on the capital, Kyiv, that was aimed at toppling Zelensky’s administration. As a result, Russia has shifted its objectives, consolidating its assault on key cities in the south and in the east.
Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov spoke with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, Kirby told reporters during a news briefing at the Pentagon. The discussion was part of a “constant dialogue and conversation” between the two officials and focused in part on the weapons and other assistance being provided to Ukraine. Additional details were not disclosed, but Reznikov wrote on Twitter earlier this week that Ukraine is seeking additional unmanned aircraft, air-defense systems, artillery, armored vehicles, combat aircraft and anti-ship missiles.
Some of the weapons expected in the next package are new to Ukrainian troops and would probably require training before they can be used in combat. A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, told reporters Tuesday that the Biden administration is open to doing so if it fills specific needs for Ukraine.
The United States and its allies have been rushing arms to Ukraine for weeks, with the United States alone sending eight to 10 flights of military assistance into neighboring countries every day, the senior U.S. defense official said. Those deliveries then are moved via ground convoy into Ukraine, which determines how and where the gear gets distributed.
As of Tuesday, the Pentagon was close to completing delivery of the last items in an $800 million security assistance package approved by Biden on March 16 and a $100 million set of shipments approved last week, the senior defense official said. The larger package included Switchblade drones that can be armed with explosives and flown into targets, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, and anti-armor weapons including Javelin missiles. The package approved last week included additional Javelins, after a request from Ukraine as it prepares for a renewed Russian offensive in the east.
“These items are not sitting around very long,” the senior defense official said. “Once they get into the transshipment sites, they are palletized and put on trucks, those trucks are picked up by Ukrainian armed forces and taken into Ukraine.”
Ukrainian officials also have begun to meet with U.S. defense firms to see how else they might be able to improve their defenses. In one recent example, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, met last week with representatives from General Atomics, the maker of Reaper and Predator drones, said C. Mark Brinkley, a company spokesman.
Brinkley said Tuesday the company is “currently exploring options” for supporting Ukraine, something that would require U.S. government approval.
“We have aircraft available now for immediate transfer,” Brinkley said. “With support from the U.S. government, those aircraft could be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots in a matter of days.”
Such a transfer, Brinkley said, would expand Ukraine’s ability to conduct aerial surveillance of the battlefield and provide “highly lethal strike capabilities not afforded” by smaller unmanned aircraft. Ukrainian pilots already familiar with drone operations would not be “starting from scratch” in learning how to fly them, he said.
In a statement, Markarova acknowledged Tuesday night that she met with General Atomics representatives.
“Together with our team, we discussed with General Atomics the prospects of increasing the capacity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the current situation in Ukraine,” she said.When asked what hardware she requested of the company, Markarova’s spokeswoman declined to specify, saying Ukraine would prefer to “surprise Russia on the battlefield.”
General Atomics supplies the U.S. Air Force with the Reaper and the U.S. Army with the Gray Eagle, an upgraded version of the Predator that was used widely by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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These trucks travel for hours until they reach unmarked places on the Polish-Ukraine border. The weapons-carrying vehicles disembark from the transport truck. They're handed over to Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers, who drive them far into the country.
Source:nicholasmathiou
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