{"id":62537,"date":"2022-09-08T15:39:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T15:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/09\/08\/us-unveils-2b-in-military-aid-for-europe-arms-for-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:41:41","slug":"us-unveils-2b-in-military-aid-for-europe-arms-for-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2022\/09\/08\/us-unveils-2b-in-military-aid-for-europe-arms-for-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"US unveils $2B in military aid for Europe, arms for Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 The U.S. unveiled nearly $3 billion in new aid for Ukraine<\/a> and 18 of its neighbors on Thursday as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin<\/a> met with allies in Germany and Secretary of State Antony Blinken<\/a> made an unscheduled visit to Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside a $675 million package of heavy weaponry, ammunition and armored vehicles for Ukraine, the administration notified Congress of its intent to make $2.2 billion in new Foreign Military Financing available. The recipients include NATO members and Eastern European security partners the State Department called \u201cmost potentially at risk for future Russian aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospect of financing options for U.S. weaponry ups the ante in a long-standing sales push by Washington to be first in line when former Warsaw Pact countries flush the last stockpiles of Soviet gear out of their arsenals. Recent donations by those countries to Ukraine have made the need to backfill their inventories all the more urgent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also sets up a competition, at least implicitly, with arms makers in Europe, who are vying for the business, as well as with the European Union as a bloc, where officials are scrambling to accelerate joint procurement of weapons and ammunition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of a Thursday meeting with senior officials from allied countries at the United States\u2019 Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Austin announced that in the coming weeks, the U.S. will host \u201csenior armaments directors\u201d from the member nations of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group<\/a>. \u201cThey will discuss how our defense industrial bases can best equip Ukraine\u2019s future forces with the capabilities that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany countries continue to dig deep and provide equipment out of their own military stocks. That can mean purchasing new equipment from their own defense industries, or even purchasing new equipment from other countries that they can send to Ukraine,\u201d Austin told the meeting, which was attended by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukraine\u2019s defense minister as well as officials from allied countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin said the countries working together should be able to \u201cstreamline processes,\u201d shorten acquisition timelines and share best practices. The remarks come as Austin has launched an effort within the Pentagon to fast-track the foreign military sales process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t