The Pentagon will be providing Ukraine with an additional four HIMARS launchers as well as other weapons and equipment under the latest presidential drawdown announced on Tuesday.
According to available information, the delivery will bring the total number of the widely-praised High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) in Ukraine to 20 units.
The latest round of security assistance for Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion is valued at up to $625 million and represents the Biden administration’s twenty-second drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
Included in this package are the HIMARS launchers, 16 155mm howitzers, 200 MaxxPro mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, 75,000 155mm artillery rounds, 500 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds, 1,000 155mm rounds of remote anti-armor mine (RAAM) systems, and Claymore anti-personnel munitions among others.
In total, the United States has committed more than $17.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021.
The October 4 presidential drawdown comes after the US announced last week it would be supplying Ukraine with another 18 HIMARS under a $1.1 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package. Unlike the presidential drawdowns, which allows the Pentagon to deliver equipment to Ukraine from its stocks at a rapid pace, USAI is an authority under which the United States procures capabilities from industry. It is designed to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine in the mid- and long-term.
