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The US prepares the new aid package for Ukraine, $2 billion in armaments

The US prepares the new aid package for Ukraine, $2 billion in armaments

The United States is preparing more than $2 billion in military aid to Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range missiles for the first time, as well as munitions and other weapons, two US officials have said . foreign.

The aid is expected to be announced within this week, officials said. It is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision-guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons, they added.

One of the officials said part of the package, expected to be $1.725 billion, would come from a fund known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows President Joe Biden's administration to receive weapons from industry and not from the US weapons stockpile.

USAI funds will go towards the purchase of a new weapon, the Small Diameter Ground-Launched Bomb (GLSDB), which has a range of 150 km. The US has rejected Ukraine's demands for the ATACMS missile with a range of 300 km.

The greater range of the GLSDB glide bomb could allow Ukraine to hit targets that have been out of reach and help it continue to suppress its counterattacks by disrupting Russia further behind its lines.

The GLSDB is guided by GPS, can defeat some electronic jams, is usable in all weather conditions and can be used against armored vehicles, according to SAAB, the Sweden-based company that makes the weapon with Boeing.

The US has sent Ukraine security aid worth about $27.2 billion since Russia's invasion on February 24 last year. Russia calls the invasion a "special operation."

Source: AL Jazzera

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