While DoD wants to build a lasting framework to counter China and Russia, the Pentagon has faced challenges “in consistently securing and accounting for defense materiel” for Ukraine; question marks related to prepositioned stocks’ readiness due to “inadequate contract execution and oversight” and other factors; and personnel shortages in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command that “contribute to schedule delays and increased costs,” according to a report last week by the Pentagon Office of Inspector General (OIG).
“The DoD OIG has completed projects on those topics, including projects related to Ukraine Security Assistance and construction on the island of Guam, that have identified issues with security and accountability of materiel, maintenance of pre‑positioned stocks, and personnel shortages in the U.S. Indo‑Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) region,” said the study, Fiscal Year 2024 Top DoD Management and Performance Challenges.
The Pentagon IG does not point to a systematic failure, but rather to previous IG studies’ findings of limited instances that warrant concern.
In INDOPACOM, the report said that Joint Region Marianas, including Guam and the northern Marianas Islands, “is the focus of dozens of military construction projects involving billions of dollars”–projects that “have been beset by significant delays, owing in large part to personnel shortages across multiple areas.”
Personnel shortages have included those for clearance of munitions and explosives of concern (MEC). “DoD OIG found that in January 2019, only four personnel were assigned to perform MEC QA [quality assurance] at Joint Region Marianas, with one person responsible for some 300 projects and simply unable to cover the workload in a timely manner,” the study said.
Personnel shortages also have affected Ukraine assistance, as “out of the few Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) personnel responsible for EEUM [enhanced end-use monitoring], only one was assigned to conduct inventories in Poland prior to transfer of materiel to Ukraine.”
“Consequently, as the multiple hubs in Poland were geographically disparate, not all materiel requiring EEUM was inventoried before transfer,” last week’s IG report said.
“The DoD OIG has multiple planned and ongoing projects on Ukraine security assistance and related issues, including evaluations of the Security Assistance Group‑Ukraine’s coordination of defense article movement, accountability of lost or destroyed articles requiring EEUM, and replenishment and management of 155mm high explosive ammunition,” the study said.
The White House’s new $106 billion supplemental spending request has $61.4 billion for continued Ukraine support, to include another $12 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which buys equipment for transfer to Ukraine (Defense Daily, Oct. 20). DoD said this month that recent approval of $300 million has exhausted the USAI till. The $300 million is to buy “additional laser-guided munitions to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems” for Ukraine, the Pentagon said.
In addition to the $300 million, $125 million in drawdown authority included munitions for RTX [RTX] and Kongsberg’s NASAMS air defense systems and for the Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers.
The U.S. is also to provide more 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, TOW missiles, Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems, more than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades, M181A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions and 12 trucks to transport heavy equipment, according to the Pentagon.
The $425 million drawdown package comes from the additional $6.2 billion the Pentagon discovered after it overestimated the value of earlier aid provided to Ukraine.
The Pentagon did not specify the specific laser-guided munitions in the package’s $300 million for USAI, but said that the munitions will “strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses over the long term.”
On Nov. 20, DoD announced $100 million more in equipment for Ukraine that includes another HIMARS and related ammunition (Defense Daily, Nov. 20). The $100 million is the 51st package of equipment to be withdrawn from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
Ukraine already operates 20 HIMARS, which fire Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and a variant of the ATACMS missile.
The security assistance package also includes Stinger anti-aircraft missile, 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, anti-armor weapons that include TOW missiles, Javelin, and AT-4 systems, more than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, cold weather gear, and spare parts, maintenance, and other ancillary equipment, the Defense Department said. The State Department also said that the assistance includes Claymore anti-personnel mines “configured to be consistent with the Ottawa Convention.”
The new package uses assistance authorized for Ukraine in prior fiscal years under Presidential Drawdown Authority.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the new aid package during a visit to Kyiv where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.