On September 28, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced approximately $1.1 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). This USAI package underscores the U.S. commitment to continuing to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territory in the face of Russian aggression.
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U.S. Marines with 5th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment set up an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in front of an AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar with Marine Air Control Group (MACG) 18 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 13, 2022 (Picture source: USMC/Cpl. Tyler Harmon)
Unlike Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which DoD has continued to leverage to deliver equipment to Ukraine from DoD stocks at a historic pace, USAI is an authority under which the United States procures capabilities from the industry. This announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine in the mid- and long-term.
Capabilities include:
• 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and associated ammunition;
• 150 Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
• 150 Tactical Vehicles to tow weapons;
• 40 trucks and 80 trailers to transport heavy equipment;
• Two radars for Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• 20 multi-mission radars;
• Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• Tactical secure communications systems, surveillance systems, and optics;
• Explosive ordnance disposal equipment;
• Body armor and other field equipment;
• Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment.
In total, the United States has now committed approximately $16.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021. Since 2014, the United States has committed approximately $19 billion in security assistance to Ukraine more than $16.2 billion since the beginning of Russia's unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.
As C. Todd Lopez, from U.S. DoD, comments, the HIMARS being part of USAI, the United States will purchase these systems from the manufacturer in order to provide them to Ukraine, rather than pull them directly from U.S. military inventory, as has been done previously with the 16 HIMARS sent to Ukraine under presidential drawdown authority. It may take a while for the latest HIMARS promised to Ukraine to arrive, a senior defense official said: "The procurement and delivery of these HIMARS systems and associated ammunition will take a few years," the official said. "Today's announcement is only the beginning of a procurement process."
While the long-term purchase of newly manufactured HIMARS for Ukraine doesn't preclude the U.S. from continuing to pull existing systems from inventory if need be, it does serve a larger purpose to have those systems on contract and in the pipeline for delivery at a later date, the official said.
"If we don't invest today to procure HIMARS for the future, they won't be there when the Ukrainian armed forces need them down the road," the official said. "This is a really sizable investment and it's intended so that down the road, Ukraine will have what it needs for the long-haul to deter future threats. It in no way rules out us continuing to invest in their current force with capabilities that are available today, and that we can draw down today from U.S. stocks."
Planning now for Ukraine's future defense needs, post-conflict, is not a new concept. In April, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted the first of what has been an ongoing series of meetings by the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The first meeting was held in Germany. Back then, the secretary alluded to the need to not only provide for Ukraine's immediate needs, but also for its future defense needs. "Ukraine needs our help to win today," the secretary said at the time. "And they will still need our help when the war is over."
The senior defense official pointed out that in addition to the 16 HIMARS systems that the U.S. has already provided to Ukraine, allies have provided Ukraine with another 10 equivalent multiple-launch rocket systems. The official said the Ukrainians have used these systems to great effect. "We've all seen how Ukraine has leveraged this system to push back against Russia's war of aggression, disrupting ammunition depots, supply lines and logistical hubs far behind the frontlines," the official said.
The official also said the package includes 20 multi-mission radars that can track airborne objects and threats, including mortar and artillery fire, along with enemy unmanned aerial systems.
The Russians have also recently announced that they plan to pull up some 300,000 conscripts from Russian society to send into the fight in Ukraine. The reaction among the Russian population has not been positive to the announcement. A senior military official said it's not the first time the Russians have done something similar, and that dipping into the civilian population to find new warfighters demonstrates the challenges they are facing in meeting their goals with the military they have in place already. "They've mobilized twice before this, one was in 1914 and one was in 1941," the senior military official said. "If you think about the consequences that they kind of feel that they're in right now and you compare that to World War I and World War II, that certainly says a lot about what the Ukrainians have been able to do ... to the Russian army."
That same senior military official said there might be challenges with outfitting so many civilians for military service so quickly, and said that many of the military personnel who would need to train those new conscripts are unavailable now because they are already in Ukraine. The official reported having seen one open-source report online that said conscripts might have seen as little as one day of training before being shipped off to Ukraine to enter the fight. "I just think about the level of training that we put in our own armed forces and know that that's ... pretty inadequate," the official said.
Ukraine Fact Sheet – Sep. 28
In total, the United States has committed approximately $16.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021, including more than $16.2 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24. United States security assistance committed to Ukraine includes:
• Over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
• Over 8,500 Javelin anti-armor systems;
• Over 32,000 other anti-armor systems;
• Over 700 Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• 126 155mm Howitzers and up to 806,000 155mm artillery rounds;
• 2,000 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds;
• 20 105mm Howitzers and 180,000 105mm artillery rounds;
• 276 Tactical Vehicles to tow weapons;
• 22 Tactical Vehicles to recover equipment;
• 34 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and ammunition;
• 20 120mm mortar systems and 85,000 rounds of 120mm mortar rounds;
• 1,500 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
• Four Command Post vehicles;
• Eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions;
• High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs);
• 20 Mi-17 helicopters;
• Hundreds of Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
• 44 trucks and 88 trailers to transport heavy equipment;
• 200 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
• 40 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles with mine rollers;
• Mine clearing equipment and systems;
• Over 10,000 grenade launchers and small arms;
• Over 60,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition;
• Over 75,000 sets of body armor and helmets;
• Approximately 700 Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• Laser-guided rocket systems;
• Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• 15 Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• Two radars for Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels;
• Over 50 counter-artillery radars;
• Four counter-mortar radars;
• 20 multi-mission radars;
• Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems;
• Ten air surveillance radars;
• Two harpoon coastal defense systems;
• 18 coastal and riverine patrol boats;
• M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
• C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment for obstacle clearing;
• Tactical secure communications systems;
• Thousands of night vision devices, surveillance systems, thermal imagery systems, optics, and laser rangefinders;
• Commercial satellite imagery services;
• Explosive ordnance disposal equipment and protective gear;
• Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment;
• 100 armored medical treatment vehicles;
• Medical supplies to include first aid kits, bandages, monitors, and other equipment;
• Electronic jamming equipment;
• Field equipment, cold weather gear, and spare parts;
• Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment.
The United States also continues to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with
additional capabilities to defend itself.
