The U.S. has approved a new $325 million weapons aid package for Ukraine, which includes plans to send precision aerial munitions and more ammunition for HIMARS launchers.
“This security assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine’s defenders on the battlefield. This new security assistance will enable Ukraine to continue to bravely defend itself in the face of Russia’s brutal, unprovoked and unjustified war,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday.
The latest security aid deal is the 36th drawdown package with equipment to be pulled from DoD inventories, and also includes providing 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds and Raytheon Technologies [RTX]-built TOW missiles.
The new package also covers AT-4 anti-armor weapons, anti-tank mines, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, more than 9 million rounds of small arms ammunition and four logistics support vehicles, according to the Pentagon.
Ukraine will also receive equipment for port and harbor security as well as testing and diagnostic equipment for vehicle maintenance and repair.
The Pentagon did not detail the specific “precision aerial munitions” capability included in the new package.
The latest security assistance announcement arrives as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are set to host the 11th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on April 21 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The meeting will once again gather defense officials from around 50 countries to discuss and collaborate on security assistance efforts for Ukraine.