U.S. to Announce $1.3 Billion in Army Assist for Ukraine -Sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The USA will announce a brand new pledge to purchase $1.3 billion price of army support for Kyiv in its battle with Russia within the coming days, two U.S. officers mentioned.

The beforehand unreported weapons bundle contains air defenses, counter-drone techniques, exploding drones and ammunition, one of many U.S. officers mentioned.

The USA is utilizing funds in its Ukraine Safety Help Initiative (USAI) program, which permit President Joe Biden’s administration to purchase weapons from business moderately than pull from U.S. weapons shares.

Among the many techniques and ammunition the U.S. plans to purchase for Kyiv are counter-air defenses made by L3Harris Applied sciences referred to as the Car-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Gear or VAMPIRE, one of many officers mentioned.

Additionally included are two several types of loitering munitions, the Phoenix Ghost drone made by AVEVEX, a personal firm in California, and the Switchblade, made by AeroVironment Inc.

Moreover, an individual briefed on the matter mentioned Ukraine will get a major variety of counter-drone techniques made by Australia’s DroneShield Ltd alongside radars, sensors and evaluation techniques.

The U.S. Division of Protection’s impending announcement of the safety help to Ukraine comes alongside a digital assembly on Tuesday of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group, a gathering of allies helping Kyiv as Ukraine presses its counteroffensive towards Russian invasion forces.

Supply of the weapons and techniques relies on their availability and manufacturing timeline. The contents and worth of the bundle may additionally change up till the announcement.

The Pentagon has supplied greater than $10.8 billion in safety help for Ukraine beneath the USAI in fiscal 2023, in seven separate tranches. The deliberate bundle could be the eighth. Within the fiscal 12 months that ended Sept. 30, 2022, Washington put $6.3 billion price of USAI funds to work shopping for for Ukraine’s protection.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Enhancing by Don Durfee and Angus MacSwan)

Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.