The U.S. on Wednesday approved a new $400 million weapons package for Ukraine, which includes additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) launchers.
The new security assistance deal, which is the 26th drawdown of equipment from Pentagon inventories, also includes 150 heavy machine guns the Pentagon says will be integrated with “thermal imagery sights to counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS).”
Photo: Raytheon
“With Russia’s unrelenting and brutal missile and UAS attacks on Ukrainian critical energy infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities remain an urgent priority. The additional munitions for NASAMS and heavy machine guns will help Ukraine counter these urgent threats,” the Pentagon wrote in a statement.
The additional munitions for the NASAMS, jointly developed by Raytheon Technologies [RTX] and Norway’s Kongsberg, follows the Pentagon’s confirmation earlier this month that the first two systems have officially been delivered to Ukraine and are now operational (Defense Daily, Nov. 8).
The U.S. has committed to sending eight NASAMS to Ukraine to date, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters last week the two systems currently in place have had a “100 percent success rate in intercepting Russian missiles” (Defense Daily, Nov. 16).
Wednesday’s new package also includes providing Ukraine with 200 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds, 10,000 120mm mortar rounds, additional High-Speed Anti-radiation Missiles, 150 more Humvees, over 100 light tactical vehicles, over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and more than 200 generators.
The latest weapons aid package arrives as the White House is requesting Congress provide $37.7 billion in new supplemental funding to continue supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion, to include $21.7 billion for additional Pentagon-specific assistance efforts (Defense Daily, Nov. 15).