The U.S. Army awarded a nearly $15 million contract to Lockheed Martin to replenish the military’s stockpile of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) in early October.
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This contract will allow Lockheed to increase its production capacity, while also allowing the U.S. military to more quickly refill its stockpiles after they have been depleted through frequent U.S. military aid packages to Ukraine to defend against Russia’s invasion.
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“Providing security assistance to our international partners is essential, and this contract speaks volumes toward that effort,” Douglas R. Bush, the Army’s assistant secretary for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, said in a statement announcing the contract released on Thursday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said last month that Ukraine had been using the HIMARS “very effectively” during a press conference in mid-October.
The U.S. has already provided 38 HIMARS and necessary ammunition to Ukraine, according to a Department of Defense fact sheet released earlier this month.
The Biden administration has provided military aid to Ukraine through two different means: Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA). The former is when the department funds the production of military instruments or weapons whereas the latter is when the weapons given to Ukraine are directly from U.S. stockpiles.
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PDA packages get to Ukraine much faster, whereas USAI is more about long-term needs and could take multiple years for delivery.
In total, the U.S. has provided more than $18 billion in military assistance since the beginning of Russia’s invasion last February.
