Rockets, Drones & Maybe Western Fighter Jets? Pentagon $1Billion in Weapons to Ukraine, Preps for Long War

By Kris Osborn – President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington, D.C.) President Biden and the Pentagon have now authorized the single largest weapons support package for Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, pledging as much as $1 billion in rockets, ammunition, anti-tank weapons, surface to air missiles and armored vehicles.

The initiative, announced Aug. 9th at the Pentagon by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, lends additional evidence to recent comments from the Pentagon and US allies that supporters of Ukraine are preparing for long-term support against the Russian invasion. Another key indication or signal this aid package suggests is that the Ukrainians continue to have very substantial success using weapons and technology provided by the US, NATO and other allied countries.

Kahl detailed a host of various items to include “additional ammunition for High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, 75,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition, 20 120mm mortar systems and 20,000 rounds of associated mortar ammunition, munitions for national advanced surface-to-air missile systems, or NASAMS, 1,000 Javelin systems and hundreds of AT-4 anti-armor systems and 50 armored medical treatment vehicles.” Kahl went on to explain that the materials also included large amounts of smaller, high-value items such as medical supplies such as bandages and first aid kits as well as lethal small weapons such as C-4 explosives.

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The Western support announced by Kahl is entirely aligned with the collective sense of resolve expressed at the recent Ukraine Defense Contact Group of more than 50-countries supporting Ukraine’s defense against invasion. The sentiment expressed at this most recent meeting by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and multiple NATO leaders was firm in its resolve to prepare the international community for an ongoing, longer-term strategy in support of Ukraine.

Key NATO allies such as Germany, the UK and others have been adding critical support since the earliest days of the war, and Kahl explained that both Britain and Germany have supplied three M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.