US poised to announce new aid package including longer-range missiles
Mike Brest
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The Biden administration is expected to soon announce a new military aid package to Ukraine worth more than $2 billion.
The package, which could be announced as early as Friday, is expected to include longer-range missiles for the first time, according to multiple outlets, though it will not include the ATACMS missiles that have a much longer range. The U.S. will commit to providing Ukraine with the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, a guided missile with a range of roughly 90 miles, while the ATACMS have a range of roughly 200 miles, according to Reuters.
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Roughly $1.725 billion of the aid will be given to Ukraine through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which means the administration is essentially paying defense companies to build the weapons that will be provided to them once they’re completed. The remaining balance will be made up of weapons given directly from U.S. stockpiles.
The longer range GLSBD glide bomb could give Ukraine’s armed forces the capability to hit targets that had been out of reach, though the U.S. continues to rebuff its request for the ATACMS, which would give them the ability to hit targets within Russian territory. The GLSBD range is roughly double that of the GMLRS munitions that Ukraine currently launches from the HIMARS rocket launchers.
On Tuesday, White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton said there would be another announcement of security assistance to Ukraine “soon,” though she didn’t provide any additional details.
This will be the first aid package since President Joe Biden reversed his position and agreed to provide Ukraine with 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks, effectively ending a western standoff about whether to provide tanks ahead of the expected offensives in the spring. German government officials had reportedly said they would not provide their Leopard 2 tanks, or allow any European country that possesses them, to give them to Ukraine unless Biden also gave them the tanks, even as DOD officials said the maintenance required made them not an ideal armored vehicle.
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In addition to pressing for longer-range missiles, following Biden’s promise for tanks, Ukrainian officials reiterated their calls for Western allies to provide them with F-16 fighter jets.
Biden said on Monday that he wouldn’t agree to the request, though on Tuesday he said he’ll be speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, presumably in the near future.