America Sending Howitzers, Radars, Helicopters, Armored Vehicles to Ukraine

In the first major heavy weapons and surveillance systems aid to Ukraine, the U.S. will immediately send 18 155 mm Howitzers, 40,000 artillery rounds, AN/TPQ-36 counter-artillery and AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel air surveillance radar systems.

The package also includes 100 armored Humvee vehicles, 200 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, and 11 Mi-17 helicopters. The helicopters will augment the five Mi-17 helicopters sent to Ukraine earlier this year. 

Additional Switchblade drones, Javelin missiles, medical equipment, body armor and helmets, optics and laser rangefinders, and M18A1 Claymore mines are also included in the package.

“As you've seen [it] go in the past, from the time the president authorizes drawdown until the first shipments actually start landing in the region can be as little as four to five days and then another couple of days once they're there to get processed and actually in the hands of Ukrainian frontline forces," Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. 

The Defense Department is still delivering equipment from the last $800 million package for Ukraine, and Kirby said that'll likely be complete by the middle of this month. But the shipment of new equipment will begin immediately, he said. 

"We're not going to wait," he said. "We're going to start getting these articles on the way, as well. So, we will literally start right away."

This latest round of security assistance includes new kinds of capabilities the Department believes the Ukrainians may need training on before putting it to use. That includes the Howitzer system, the two radar systems, and possible the optics and laser rangefinders as well as the Claymore mines. There may also be additional training for the Switchblade system.

This most recent authorization is the seventh drawdown of equipment from DOD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021, Kirby said. About $2.6 billion in security assistance has been provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.

The Mi-17 helicopters are probably the ones the U.S. bought from Russia for use in Afghanistan.

The new capability, particularly the howitzers, counter-artillery and air surveillance radars will significantly improve the Ukrainian Forces' ability to effectively counter Russian attacks both from the ground and the air.