The pack is expected to be announced possibly even within the week – It will include longer range weapons
The U.S. government is preparing a new $2 billion-plus military equipment package for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time, as well as various types of ammunition, weapons and spare parts, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter. they spoke to the Reuters news agency yesterday Tuesday.
The package is expected to be announced possibly even within the week, they clarified. It will include parts for Patriot air defense systems, precision munitions and Javelin anti-tank missiles, the sources said.
Most of the amount ($1.7 billion) will come from a fund that allows President Joe Biden’s administration to procure items directly from industry, rather than drawing from US military stockpiles.
It will be allocated in particular to the purchase of a new type of rocket, the “Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb” (GLSDB), jointly developed by Boeing and Saab, with an effective range of 150 kilometers. As of this stage, Washington is not satisfying Kiev’s request to send ATACMS missiles, with a range of almost 300 kilometers, launched from HIMARS systems to the Ukrainian military.
However, the range of the GLSDB will potentially allow the Ukrainian armed forces to successfully engage targets so far out of range, in the context of counterattacks or harassment of Russian troops far behind the front lines.
Reuters first reported Boeing’s proposal to outsource GLSDB to Ukraine in November. Then, it was expected that it would reach the hands of the Ukrainians around spring.
This rocket is based on the combination of the GBU-39 bomb and the M26 rocket engine. Both of these species abound in US military stockpiles. It is guided using the GPS system, overcomes electronic jamming systems, is all-weather and can completely destroy armored vehicles. The GBU-39, which is equipped with small, folding wings that allow it to travel more than 100 kilometers when dropped from an aircraft, can hit targets as small as one meter in diameter.
The package will also include parts for HAWK air defense systems, anti-UAV systems, anti-aircraft and air surveillance radars, communications equipment, PUMA-type UAVs, as well as spare parts for systems such as Patriot air and missile defense arrays and armored fighting vehicles Bradley, according to Reuters sources.
Equipment for three field hospitals will also be donated by a US ally, according to one of the officials.
The White House declined to comment.
In addition to the part of the equipment package that will be purchased directly from industry, the other, worth more than 400 million dollars, will come from a special fund that is available to the American president and allows him to draw from his reserves US military in emergencies.
This package is expected to include Mine Resistant Personnel Carriers (MRAPs), Multiple Guided Rocket Launch Systems (GMLRS) and various types of munitions.
The US has sent approximately $27.2 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s armed forces invaded the country on February 24, 2022.
RES-EMP
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