The Biden administration on Friday approved a new $400 million weapons aid package for Ukraine, which includes plans to deliver additional HIMARS launchers, more artillery ammunition and “precision aerial munitions.”
The new batch of security assistance is the third to be announced since Biden signed the recent supplemental funding bill with $61 billion in further aid for Ukraine, and is the 57th set of equipment to be provided from existing Pentagon inventories to assist in Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
“This Presidential Drawdown Authority package has an estimated value of $400 million and includes capabilities to support Ukraine’s most urgent battlefield requirements, including air defense, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Along with the additional Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built HIMARS, Ukraine is set to receive more munitions for the launchers as well as “equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s systems,” the Pentagon noted.
The new weapons aid package also includes more munitions for Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Javelin anti-armor missiles, TOW and HARM missiles and additional 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds.
Ukraine is also set to receive additional Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M113 armored personnel carriers, MRAP vehicles, trailers to transport heavy equipment and coastal and riverine patrol boats, according to the Pentagon.
Following passage of the $95 billion supplemental in late April after months of further aid being stalled in Congress, the Biden administration announced a $1 billion weapons aid package for Ukraine (Defense Daily, April 24).
The U.S. then approved its largest security assistance package to date for Ukraine, a $6 billion tranche of equipment to be supplied through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative where capabilities are procured from industry (Defense Daily, May 2).
“You can rest assured that we’re going to move as fast as we can to get them the capability as fast as industry can produce, but we will move at the speed of industry,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time. “And we’re investing in industry as well so that they can expand their capacity. And some of what’s in that supplemental allows us to do that.”