United States Announce New Military Aid Package for Ukraine
16 October, 2024 HMMWV armored vehicles of the Azov National Guard Brigade. Spring 2023. Ukraine.
Photo: Civil Resistance and Assistance Foundation The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a new military assistance package to meet the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced this. This announcement is the Biden Administration's sixty-seventh tranche of equipment to be provided from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
This Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package, which has an estimated value of £425 million, will provide Ukraine additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs.
NASAMS anti-aircraft missile system. Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of Norway
The capabilities in this announcement include:
- Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS):
- RIM-7 missiles and support for air defense;
- Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;
- Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- Air-to-ground munitions;
- 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition;
- Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles;
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
- High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
- Small arms and ammunition;
- Grenades, thermals, and training equipment;
- Demolitions equipment and munitions; and
- Spare parts, ancillary equipment, services, training, and transportation.
"The United States will continue to work together with some 50 Allies and partners through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and its associated capability coalitions to meet Ukraine's urgently needed battlefield requirements and defend against Russian aggression," the U.S. Department of Defense stated.
A Ukrainian soldier with a Stinger MANPADS in the Kherson region, May 2022
The U.S. President announced this military aid package during a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "I am grateful to U.S.
President Biden, U.S. Congress and its both parties and the entire American people for the £425 million defense package announced today, which includes new air defense systems and long-range weapons," Zelensky said. Particular attention was paid to the upcoming online meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format.
Military aid from the United States
On October 1, it was reported that the United States had ordered new batches of GBU-39/B small-diameter bombs for its Air Force and foreign customers.
Ukraine is among the countries that will receive these precision-guided munitions.
The contract, with a maximum possible value of £6.9 billion, covers the production and delivery of an unspecified number of GBU-39/B small-diameter bombs until approximately December 31, 2035.