The Department of Defense does not believe allocating more than $7 billion worth of military equipment to Ukraine in recent months will hurt the United States’s ability to defend itself.
A senior defense official affirmed in a background briefing with reporters on Friday that part of the process of determining what weapons and systems to include in these packages is determining how to “not have [a] negative impact on U.S. readiness.”
“Part of the process of deciding which systems and the numbers of systems is absolutely validated to ensure that these are sustainable capabilities for — that we can donate to Ukraine and does not have [a] negative impact on U.S. readiness,” the official explained in a briefing to detail the latest military package.
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The Biden administration approved its 15th drawdown package on Friday, worth an estimated $400 million. This means the aid comes from U.S. stockpiles, though not all aid from Washington comes from American military reserves. This package brings the total number of Lockheed Martin-created high mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, to 12. Prior to this, the U.S. had given Ukraine more than 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, more than 6,500 Javelin anti-armor systems, and more than 20,000 other anti-armor systems, among many other weapons.
U.S. stockpiles are diminishing with each passing drawdown, and the supply chain issues will hamper manufacturers’ ability to refill them.
“I think one of the big things going forward is, how can we effectively understand on an ongoing basis where our supply chain stands, where potential revenues are … is going to be one of the challenges that becomes steadily more important as long as the conflict goes,” Greg Sanders, deputy director and fellow with the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Washington Examiner.
Raytheon’s CEO, Greg Hayes, told investors in April that they won’t be able to ramp up production of Stinger anti-aircraft systems until at least 2023 because they have to “redesign some of the electronics in the missile and the seeker head.” Hayes reportedly noted during a meeting earlier that month between Pentagon officials and defense contractor leaders that it can require six to 12 months to restart a munitions production line, according to Reuters.
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In addition to the Stinger missiles that have already been sent to Ukraine, the U.S. approved the sale of 250 in 2019 with an expected delivery date by 2026. There are now risks of delays, the outlet reported. Chu Wen-wu, deputy head of Taiwan’s army planning department, said in May, “It is true that due to changes in the international situation, there may be a risk of delayed delivery this year of the portable Stinger missiles.”
“Americans should be paying attention to reserves, [which] are fundamental because conflicts never go the way we think. They often require more resources than we assume,” Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’s Center on Military and Political Power, told the Washington Examiner. “And it takes time to produce these weapons. So only a foolish country would not maintain some reserves. But it would also be very foolish to not help Ukraine in his moment of need, because of the stakes there for Europeans and for us.”
