US announces $2 billion to help Ukraine make its own weapons

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday announced a $2 billion aid package for Ukraine largely intended to help the embattled country grow its indigenous defense capabilities and move away from Soviet-era equipment.

The $2 billion in Ukraine Foreign Military Financing mostly comes from the $60 billion economic and security aid for Kyiv Congress passed in April after months of delays . The State Department said the $2 billion will be used to establish a Ukraine Defense Enterprise Program.

Blinken, during a trip to Kyiv, said the new fund would “assist Ukraine in acquiring” additional weapons while “investing in Ukraine’s defense industrial base, helping to strengthen even more its capacity to produce what it needs for itself but also to produce for others.”

“Finally, using this fund [will] help Ukraine purchase military equipment from other countries, not just the United States, for Ukraine’s use,” he added.

Most U.S. Foreign Military Financing in previous Ukraine aid packages has gone to eastern European countries supporting Kyiv in its war effort against Russia’s invasion. The $2 billion tranche is the largest amount of Foreign Military Financing the U.S. has ever given Ukraine.

Foreign Military Financing is cash assistance the State Department gives to friendly countries to allow them to purchase military equipment from U.S. defense contractors. Israel and Taiwan are the only two recipients who have previously been granted permission to use some Foreign Military Financing on their own defense companies through a special mechanism called offshore procurement .

The State Department said the $2 billion Foreign Military Financing for Ukraine “may also facilitate co-production between Ukrainian and U.S. industry and help support Ukraine’s defense industrial base to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to produce weapons to defend itself.”

The Biden administration scaled up an effort to help Ukraine build defense equipment on its soil in December with the Commerce Department hosting a U.S.-Ukraine defense-industrial base conference.

Lockheed Martin and RTX, formerly Raytheon Technologies, signed a memorandum of understanding in September to produce Javelin anti-tank missiles in Poland.

Most U.S. assistance has come in the form of arms transfers from existing U.S. weapons stockpiles and through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the Pentagon to place contracts on additional weapons systems for Kyiv.

But the Biden administration has not allowed Kyiv to use long-range U.S. weapons to strike military assets in Russian territory, citing escalatory risks. The U.K. recently reversed a similar restriction on Ukraine’s use of long-range British weapons.

Those restrictions do not apply to Kyiv’s indigenous capabilities. For instance, Ukraine has used its own drones to strike Russian oil facilities — drawing protests from the Biden administration.

A group of Ukrainian parliamentarians visited Washington this week in a bid to get the U.S. to lift its ban on using American weapons to strike inside Russia, Politico reported Tuesday .

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the country where Lockheed Martin and RTX will co-produce Javelins. The two companies will produce the missiles in Poland.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯周三宣布了一项向乌克兰提供 20 亿美元援助的计划，该计划主要旨在帮助这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家发展其本土国防能力，并摆脱苏联时代的装备。

这20亿美元的乌克兰对外军事融资主要来自基辅国会4月份通过的600亿美元经济和安全援助，该援助计划此前经历了数月的延误。美国国务院表示，这20亿美元将用于建立乌克兰国防企业计划。

布林肯在访问基辅期间表示，新基金将“帮助乌克兰获得”更多武器，同时“投资乌克兰的国防工业基础，帮助进一步加强其生产自身所需以及为其他国家生产的能力”。

“最后，利用这笔资金将帮助乌克兰从其他国家（而不仅仅是美国）购买军事装备供乌克兰使用，”他补充道。

美国此前向乌克兰提供的军事援助资金大多流向了支持基辅对抗俄罗斯入侵的东欧国家。这笔20亿美元的援助是美国迄今为止向乌克兰提供的最大一笔军事援助。

对外军事融资是美国国务院向友好国家提供的现金援助，用于帮助它们从美国国防承包商处购买军事装备。以色列和台湾是仅有的两个此前获准通过一项名为“离岸采购”的特殊机制，将部分对外军事融资用于本国国防企业的受援国。

美国国务院表示，向乌克兰提供的 20 亿美元外国军事融资“也可能促进乌克兰和美国工业之间的合作生产，并帮助支持乌克兰的国防工业基础，以加强乌克兰生产自卫武器的能力。”

拜登政府于 12 月加大了帮助乌克兰在其境内建设国防装备的力度，商务部主办了美乌国防工业基地会议。

洛克希德·马丁公司和RTX（前身为雷神技术公司）于9月签署了一份谅解备忘录，将在波兰生产标枪反坦克导弹。

美国的大部分援助是以从现有美国武器库存中转移武器的形式进行的，并通过乌克兰安全援助倡议进行，该倡议允许五角大楼为基辅签订额外的武器系统合同。

但拜登政府以局势升级风险为由，不允许基辅使用美国远程武器打击俄罗斯境内的军事目标。英国最近也取消了对乌克兰使用英国远程武器的类似限制。

这些限制并不适用于基辅的自主作战能力。例如，乌克兰曾使用自己的无人机袭击俄罗斯石油设施，此举引发了拜登政府的抗议。

据 Politico 周二报道，一群乌克兰议员本周访问了华盛顿，试图让美国解除对使用美国武器打击俄罗斯境内目标的禁令。

更正：此前报道有误，误述了洛克希德·马丁公司和RTX公司将联合生产“标枪”导弹的国家。两家公司将在波兰生产该导弹。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。