U.S. to transfer additional ammunition and 32 Stryker armored personnel carriers to Ukraine
25 July, 2023 Stryker wheeled armored fighting vehicle. Photo from open sources The U.S.
Department of Defense disclosed the contents of the next £400 million defense aid package to Ukraine. The new U.S. aid package is provided through the Presidential Drawdown Authority. This mechanism allows the transfer of weapons and equipment directly from DoD inventories.
This authorization is already the Biden Administration's forty-third drawdown since February 2022. The aid includes, in particular, additional ammunition for various systems, armored vehicles and other equipment. The capabilities in this package include:
- Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
- Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;
- 120mm and 60mm mortar rounds;
- 32 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers;
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
- Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets;
- Hornet Unmanned Aerial Systems;
- Hydra-70 aircraft rockets;
- Tactical air navigation systems;
- Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing;
- Over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades;
- Night vision devices and thermal imagery systems.
Spare parts, training munitions, and other field equipment are also provided.
The total value of U.S. military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022 is already more than £43.7 billion. The previous £800 million military aid package to Ukraine was announced by the United States on July 7, 2023. It included cluster ammunition for the first time.
Presumably, Hornet drones are intended for special units of Ukrainian forces engaged in reconnaissance.
Black Hornet drone of the Ukrainian military.
2022. Photo credits: Kruk
These micro-drones are mainly used for intelligence gathering. Ukraine already received them from other Western allies.
The transferred American 70mm Hydra-70 unguided rockets will allow Ukrainian aviation to defeat the equipment and manpower of the Russians.
The process of loading Hydra 70 unguided rockets
The effective range of the Hydra 70 ranges from 500 to 8,000 meters depending on the warhead and launch platform, and the maximum range under optimal conditions is 10,500 meters.