A historic amount of weapons are being sent to Ukraine – In a matter of a few weeks, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with more weapons than the entire Ukrainian military budget. A response to the illegal and unprovoked Russian invasion, the security aid that the U.S. (and dozens of other countries) has been providing has been vital in stopping the Russian forces.
Indeed, American-made weapons have been wreaking havoc on Russian tanks and aircraft. But since the war started, there have been numerous packages of military aid, making it hard to understand what the Pentagon has committed to Ukraine.
Here is a breakdown of all the security aid so far.
The Ukraine Weapons Story so Far
The U.S. military has committed to providing its Ukrainian counterpart with the following weapons systems so far:
Over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
Over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems;
Over 14,000 other anti-armor systems;
Over 700 Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
90 155mm Howitzers and over 200,000 155mm artillery rounds;
72 Tactical Vehicles to tow 155mm Howitzers;
Hundreds of Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles;
200 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
Over 7,000 small arms;
Over 50,000,000 rounds of ammunition;
75,000 sets of body armor and helmets;
121 Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;
Laser-guided rocket systems;
Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems;
Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels;
17 counter-artillery radars;
Four counter-mortar radars;
Two air surveillance radars;
M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
C-4 explosives and demolition equipment for obstacle clearing;
Tactical secure communications systems;
Night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, optics, and laser rangefinders;
Commercial satellite imagery services;
Explosive ordnance disposal protective gear;
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment;
Medical supplies to include first aid kits;
Electronic jamming equipment;
Field equipment and spare parts.
Billions in Security Aid for Ukraine
Last week, the Department of Defense authorized another package of security assistance to Ukraine valued at $150 million. The latest package of security assistance to Ukraine comes in the form of a drawdown, meaning that the White House has authorized the Pentagon to go to its arms stockpiles and get the weapon systems from there. This is the ninth equipment drawdown from the inventories of the U.S. military since last August.
In the last two years, the U.S. has committed to providing Ukraine with more than $4.5 billion in security assistance alone, with approximately $3.8 billion of that assistance given since the first Russian forces stepped into Ukraine on February 24.
But the Pentagon is highly likely to be sending more security aid to Ukraine. Congress is now deliberating on an approximately $40 billion security, economic, and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine.
“In the mean time, however, we continue to urge Congress to pass the president’s supplemental request, which he asked for $33 billion, $5 billion of that would include drawdown authority—additional draw down authority—so that we can continue uninterrupted, providing things out of our own stocks,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Should the package be approved, the Pentagon will have more than $20 billion at its disposal to use to buy new weapons or supply Ukraine with weapons from its stockpiles.
1945’s New Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.