Washington to send another $600 mln military aid package to Ukraine

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In the latest display of Biden's seemingly bottomless provisions of aid to Ukraine, Washington will be sending another $600 million in military assistance to Ukraine on top of the $675 million package which was announced last week, Biden announced on Thursday. 

Although there was no specification of what the package will consist of, it was only mentioned that there will be a drawdown in Defense Department "articles and services."

The official website of the White House gave authority to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “direct the drawdown of up to $600 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training,” to Ukraine.

The Pentagon, later on, divulged that the package will include more "ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)," thousands of 105mm and precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars and anti-drone systems. Anti-personnel mines, small arms and ammunition and night vision goggles, and cold weather gear will also be included.

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced a $311 million contract to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to replenish stocks of depleted Western-supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles.

Biden, so far, has provided Ukraine with $44.3 billion in aid - while the aid is only partially in the form of cash, the rest is weapons, ammunition and training.

Recently, the National Defense Industrial Association estimated that runaway inflation will cause the US military to lose $110 billion in purchasing power in the coming fiscal year, and that the Pentagon will need $42 billion in budget to fix the case.

On Monday, a senior defense official said that the United States had moved forward to procure for Ukraine air defense systems, including NASAMS. 

Kiev has been expecting to receive six NASAMS at the minimum as part of a $2.98 billion pledged assistance package that will allow Ukraine to acquire, in addition to the aforementioned systems, air defense systems, artillery systems, and munitions, drones, and other equipment.

However, the United States does not have NASAMS in stock that are immediately available to give to Ukraine. 

The military aid package, according to a Bloomberg report which cited two US officials, includes six NASAMS air defense systems as well as "Vampire" drone systems.