AUGUST 20, 2022 – A major presidential drawdown authority security assistance package is about to be unveiled, said a senior Defense Department official who briefed the Pentagon media today.
This PDA is valued at up to $775 million, the official said, noting that a $1 billion security assistance package was also just released on Aug. 8.
The official summarized what’s in this current PDA:
- Additional ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS.
- 16 105 mm howitzers, along with 36,000 rounds for the artillery. The United Kingdom has supplied 105 mm howitzers to Ukraine in the past.
- 15 ScanEagle unmanned aerial systems for reconnaissance.
- Mine clearing systems, including 40 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles with mine rollers that will allow Ukraine to neutralize areas heavily mined by Russia in the south and east.
- Additional high-speed, anti-radiation missiles, known as HARM missiles, for integration into Ukrainian aircraft to seek and destroy Russian radars.
- 1,500 tube-launched, optically tracked, wire guided anti-tank missiles, known as TOWs.
- 1,000 Javelin anti-armor systems.
- 2,000 anti-armor rounds to be used in existing anti-armor systems, many of which have already been provided by allies and partners such as the Carl Gustaf weapon developed by Sweden.
- Other security assistance includes 50 Humvees, tactical secure communication systems, demolition munitions, night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, optics and laser rangefinders.
“Right now, I would say that you are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield,” the official said, adding that Ukrainian forces are employing Javelins and HIMARS in very effective ways.
Since 2014, more than $12.6 billion has been provided to Ukraine in security assistance.
“This isn’t the end. We will continue to consult with the Ukrainians to make sure that we are providing them what they need, when they need it,” the official said.
It’s a pleasure to be here with you all again. Today, I would like to focus my introductory comments on security assistance to Ukraine. We have another major security assistance package that we are about to unveil, and this continues our tradition of providing the Ukrainians what they need when they need it on the basis of very strong and robust dialogue between our military and theirs.
So this package that we will soon announce will be valued at up to $775 million, and this does come on the heels of our August 8th package that was $1 billion. This is a presidential drawdown package, and is the 19th presidential drawdown package since August of 2021.
So I’m going to walk through each of the capabilities. There are actually a number of different capabilities in this, many of which we have provided before, but I’ll go through them each in turn.
So the first kind of bucket of capabilities that I’ll cover relate to artillery, obviously a critical area of need. So first, we are providing additional ammunition for the HIMARS system. That’s the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. We have been seeing Ukraine employing HIMARS masterfully on the battlefield. This long-range fire capability has changed — really changed the dynamic on the battlefield. So we want to make sure that Ukraine has a steady stream of ammunition to meet its needs, and that’s what we’re doing with this package.
The second item in the — what I would call the artillery bucket, is 16 howitzers. Now, these are the 105 mm howitzers, and then 36,000 105 mm artillery rounds to go with these howitzers. And this particular capability, it complements a capability that was previously provided by the United Kingdom. The U.K. provided 105 mm artillery systems, and we had previously provided accompanying artillery rounds. So this is an increase in artillery rounds, and also some of these systems. We’ve seen that the Ukrainians have been able to make great use of this on the battlefield, in combination with the previous artillery systems that we provided them, giving them a layered effect with this capability.
And then the third item, I’m putting this in the artillery bucket because it will assist the Ukrainians in their targeting. But this is an unmanned aerial vehicle, so (inaudible) will provide 15 ScanEagle systems. So this will give Ukraine additional ISR to conduct better reconnaissance around the front lines.
Now, the second sort of bucket that I’ll identify for our — this security assistance package relates to mine clearing. We know that Russia has heavily mined areas in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine. We know there’s a significant amount of unexploded ordnance, so we will be providing mine-clearing equipment and systems, and we will also be providing for the first time 40 MaxxPro MRAPs, or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles with mine rollers. So this is going to give the Ukrainians a resilient capability for transporting troops in this challenging terrain.
The next area to identify for this package: missiles and anti-armor. This is a few different things here. First, we are providing additional High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles. These are the HARM missiles. Ukraine has successfully employed these missiles. They have successfully integrated them onto Ukrainian aircraft, and this enables Ukraine to seek and destroy Russian radars, so we’ll be providing additional HARM missiles.
The second in this kind of missile category is for the land domain, we’re providing TOW missiles, so 1,500 TOW missiles. This stands for Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided missiles, and here, you’re very familiar with Russia’s heavy use of armor. And so there is this ongoing need for anti-armor capability, and this is just another one of these capabilities.
Now, in addition to this, we are going back to a system that I know you’re all very familiar with and the Ukrainians have made a terrific use of, especially in the early days of the conflict — this is the Javelin system. So we will be providing 1,000 additional Javelin anti-armor systems. And we see this as a continuing aspect of Ukrainian success.
And then last in this category, we’re providing 2,000 anti-armor rounds. Now, these are just the rounds because the Ukrainians have a number of existing anti-armor and anti-personnel weapons systems. Many of them were provided by allies and partners. One example is the Carl Gustaf system. So we’re providing these rounds to complement those existing systems.
We are also, in the category of mobility, providing Humvees. In this package, we’ll have an additional 50 armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, or HMMMVs. We’ve already provided hundreds of these and the Ukrainians have been using them and actually also are very capable in sustaining them and maintaining them.
And then I’m just going to quickly run through — in every package, we have a number of other smaller items. In this package, it includes tactical secure communications systems, demolition munitions, night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, optics and laser range finders.
So in summary, the United States has committed approximately $10.6 billion in security assistance since the beginning of the Biden administration, and since 2014, more than $12.6 billion in security assistance. And this isn’t the end, we will continue to consult with the Ukrainians to make sure that we are providing them what they need, when they need it.
BY DAVID VERGUN, DOD NEWS