The contract for the production of the Switchblade 600 loitering projectiles for $ 2.2 million for delivery to Ukraine was signed by the Pentagon and the AeroVironment company, follows from the US military published on September 20 document.
The so-called list of contracts to assist Ukraine as part of the country’s security assistance (Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, USAI) includes a number of contracts with companies manufacturing weapons (Javelin, Stinger, HIMARS, Switchblade 300 and Switchblade 600 drones, etc.) and equipment (radio receivers , radar, optics, etc.). Opposite the Switchblade 600 drones, which are still at the development and prototyping stage, is the contract date of September 15th.
“Under USAI, the Pentagon purchases defense products directly from industrial enterprises for
support for Ukraine. Congress has allocated $6 billion in funding to USAI in fiscal year 2022 <...> Replacement contracts are expected to [вооружений и техники] will be concluded over several years, since many items supplied to Ukraine, such as advanced ammunition, have a production time of two to three years, ”the document says.
This means that after the United States supplied weapons and equipment immediately, now the equipment will be manufactured for some time, so the terms of the contracts are not specified. In addition to financing purchases, some contracts include investments in an industrial base to expand or accelerate production volumes, according to the list of contracts for Ukraine.
On September 7, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) received the first 20 Polish-made Warmate attack drones, collected through crowdfunding. He specified that the rest of the drones will be delivered to the front line in September.
On September 3, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, said that Ukraine intends to purchase Bayraktar drones equipped with a chemical spray device, which poses a threat to Russia. He noted that this creates a real threat of large-scale use of biological weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Moscow has repeatedly urged Western countries to stop pumping weapons into Kyiv. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted, by supplying weapons to Ukraine, the North Atlantic Alliance is entering into a proxy war with Russia. He noted that Western weapons supplied to Kyiv would be a legitimate target for the Russian military involved in the special operation.
Western countries began to actively arm Ukraine against the backdrop of a special operation carried out by Russia to protect Donbass. Moscow explained that the tasks of the special operation included the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, the implementation of which is necessary to ensure the security of Russia. The decision was made against the background of aggravation in the region as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian military.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
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