US to send Ukraine largest package yet, worth $3.75 billion

WASHINGTON — The U.S. announced its largest Ukraine aid package yet, worth $3.75 billion, which includes Bradleys and other armored vehicles as well as $907 million in more financing for Ukraine and its neighbors to buy American-made weapons and equipment.

The new U.S. military drawdown — worth about $2.85 billion and featuring 50 M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles armed with anti-tank missiles — is aimed at getting as much to Ukrainian forces as possible during the winter months, before spring sets in and an expected increase in fighting begins.

Pentagon officials say the provision of several hundred armored vehicles, along with plans for U.S. training of Ukrainian troops on combined arms as well as operations and maintenance of the Bradleys, offer Ukraine a chance to retake territory from Russia’s invasion force. The vehicles are expected to help Ukraine’s infantry accompany its fast-moving armored forces.

“These capabilities will complement and work with the expanded U.S.-led training beginning this month that will build Ukraine’s capacity to conduct joint maneuver and combined operations,” Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, told reporters at the Pentagon. “We will ensure Ukraine has both the equipment and the skilled force necessary to sustain its efforts to push back on Russian aggression.”

The new aid, which draws from the Ukraine spending package Congress approved last month, includes $225 million for Ukraine and $682 million for European allies, under the U.S. Foreign Military Financing program, to buy American-made military gear over the long term. Cooper said Ukraine would likely buy air defense weapons, artillery and armored vehicles — its top priorities.

The latest military equipment drawn down from U.S. military stockpiles includes new types of projectiles, such as an undisclosed number of RIM-7 Seasparrow missiles, which Ukraine can integrate into its Soviet-era Buk air defenses, and 4,000 127mm Zuni rockets, which can be mounted on Ukraine’s fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft.

With the Bradleys come more M113 armored personnel carriers; mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles; and Humvees. The U.S. is sending 155mm Paladin self-propelled howitzers for the first time, with more 105mm towed howitzers and related ammunition.

The Bradley, a tracked vehicle made by BAE Systems, carries up to 10 troops and is usually armed with two TOW anti-tank missiles, a 25mm Bushmaster chain gun and a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. With it the U.S. is sending 500 TOW missiles and 250,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition.

Germany and France also pledged to send infantry fighting vehicles from their arsenals, but the allies stopped short of sending Western tanks, which are more complex for Ukraine’s needs and have longer-range guns. The Bradley, used to transport troops to combat, is not a tank but is known as a “tank-killer” because of the anti-tank missile it can fire.

Cooper defended the pace in sending the armored vehicles and the United States’ reluctance to send Abrams tanks. The new package, she said, became appropriate as Ukrainian forces have “demonstrated a lot of growing proficiency in maintenance and sustainment” on American and other systems, partially through using remote “tele-maintenance.”

While the U.S. and the Netherlands are due to jointly send refurbished Czech T-72 tanks , “the Abrams tank in addition to being a gas guzzler is quite challenging to maintain,” she said. “What we are looking at in the Bradley is a capability that we could envision them really using to great effect, along with the training.”

Still, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday that this year his country will receive weapons from Western allies that it did not in 2022, and that “the time of the weapons taboo has passed,” thanks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy’ s “marathon” talks with foreign leaders this week.

U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed in a joint statement Thursday that the U.S. would provide Bradleys to Ukraine while Germany would provide Marder infantry fighting vehicles. France earlier this week pledged to send AMX-10 RC vehicles , billed as “light tanks” on wheels boasting armor-breaking 105mm guns.

The Marder contingent entails “up to 40 vehicles,” or a battalion’s worth, according to officials in Berlin. Deliveries of the vehicles to Ukraine, plus an eight-week training for Ukrainian troops in Germany, are to conclude by the end of March.

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht and her U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin , spoke by phone Friday about details of their new contributions and to prepare the Jan. 20 meeting of international donor countries known as the Ramstein format.

Lambrecht described the Marder and Bradley pledges as a “joint German-American initiative” to ship Western-made combat vehicles to war-torn Ukraine, supporting France’s contribution of what she described as wheeled reconnaissance tanks.

The Marders could be sourced both from the armed forces’ inventory and a pool of vehicles held in storage by manufacturer Rheinmetall, according to a statement by the German Defence Ministry.

The latest German military contribution also includes a Patriot air defense system, following the Americans’ lead from December. Previous notable military contributions by Berlin include rocket launchers, howitzers, the IRIS-T anti-missile weapon and the Gepard air defense tank, which is credited with shooting down Russian drones and missiles despite being deemed too old for service in the Bundeswehr.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the planned combat vehicle deliveries had been closely coordinated ahead of the announcement this week, suggesting other international partners could follow suit in the coming weeks.

Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

华盛顿——美国宣布了迄今为止规模最大的对乌克兰援助计划，价值 37.5 亿美元，其中包括布雷德利战车和其他装甲车，以及向乌克兰及其邻国提供 9.07 亿美元的额外资金，用于购买美国制造的武器和装备。

美国新的军事撤军计划——价值约 28.5 亿美元，其中包括 50 辆配备反坦克导弹的 M2A2 布雷德利步兵战车——旨在冬季期间尽可能多地向乌克兰军队提供物资，赶在春季到来、预计战斗升级之前完成。

五角大楼官员表示，提供数百辆装甲车，以及美军对乌克兰军队进行联合兵种训练、布雷德利战车的操作和维护计划，将为乌克兰从俄罗斯入侵部队手中夺回领土提供机会。这些车辆预计将帮助乌克兰步兵伴随其快速机动的装甲部队作战。

“这些能力将与本月开始的由美国主导的扩大训练计划相辅相成，共同提升乌克兰开展联合机动和联合作战的能力，”美国国防部负责俄罗斯、乌克兰和欧亚事务的副助理部长劳拉·库珀在五角大楼对记者表示。“我们将确保乌克兰拥有必要的装备和训练有素的部队，以持续遏制俄罗斯的侵略。”

这笔新的援助资金来自国会上月批准的乌克兰支出方案，其中包括根据美国对外军事融资计划向乌克兰提供的2.25亿美元和向欧洲盟国提供的6.82亿美元，用于长期购买美国制造的军事装备。库珀表示，乌克兰可能会优先购买防空武器、火炮和装甲车。

从美国军火库中撤出的最新军事装备包括新型弹药，例如数量不详的 RIM-7 海麻雀导弹（乌克兰可将其整合到苏联时代的“山毛榉”防空系统中），以及 4000 枚 127 毫米祖尼火箭（可安装在乌克兰的固定翼或旋翼飞机上）。

随着布雷德利战车的到来，还将交付更多M113装甲运兵车、防地雷反伏击车和悍马军车。美国首次向意大利派遣155毫米帕拉丁自行榴弹炮，同时还将提供更多105毫米牵引式榴弹炮及相关弹药。

布雷德利步兵战车是由英国航空航天系统公司（BAE Systems）制造的履带式战车，最多可搭载10名士兵，通常配备两枚陶式反坦克导弹、一门25毫米“大毒蛇”链式机炮和一挺7.62毫米同轴机枪。美国此次将随战车提供500枚陶式导弹和25万发25毫米炮弹。

德国和法国也承诺从各自的军火库中提供步兵战车，但盟军并未提供西方坦克，因为这些坦克对于乌克兰的需求来说更为复杂，而且射程更远。布雷德利战车虽然并非坦克，但因其能够发射反坦克导弹，而被誉为“坦克杀手”，它主要用于运送部队前往战场。

库珀为派遣装甲车辆的速度以及美国不愿派遣艾布拉姆斯坦克的做法辩护。她说，这套新的援助方案是合适的，因为乌克兰军队在维护和保障美国及其他国家的系统方面“展现出了日益精湛的技能”，部分原因是他们使用了远程“远程维护”技术。

她表示，虽然美国和荷兰计划联合交付翻新的捷克T-72坦克，但“艾布拉姆斯坦克除了耗油之外，维护起来也相当困难”。“我们看到布雷德利战车具备的能力，我们设想他们能够真正有效地利用它，再加上相应的训练。”

不过，乌克兰外交部长德米特罗·库列巴周四表示，今年乌克兰将从西方盟友那里获得2022年没有获得的武器，而且由于乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基本周与外国领导人进行了“马拉松式”会谈，“武器禁忌的时代已经过去”。

美国总统拜登和德国总理朔尔茨周四发表联合声明，确认美国将向乌克兰提供布雷德利步兵战车，德国将提供黄鼠狼步兵战车。法国本周早些时候承诺向乌克兰提供AMX-10遥控战车，这种战车被称为“轻型坦克”，配备有105毫米穿甲炮。

据柏林官员称，此次向乌克兰提供的“黄鼠狼”装甲车数量“多达40辆”，相当于一个营的兵力。车辆交付乌克兰以及乌克兰军队在德国接受为期八周的训练，将于3月底完成。

德国国防部长克里斯蒂娜·兰布雷希特和美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀周五通了电话，讨论了他们新的捐助细节，并为1月20日举行的国际捐助国会议（即拉姆施泰因模式）做准备。

兰布雷希特将“黄鼠狼”和“布雷德利”战车的承诺描述为“德美联合倡议”，旨在向饱受战争蹂躏的乌克兰运送西方制造的作战车辆，以支持法国提供的她所说的轮式侦察坦克。

德国国防部的一份声明称，这些“黄鼠狼”装甲车可以从军队的库存中采购，也可以从制造商莱茵金属公司储存的车辆池中采购。

德国最新的军事援助还包括一套“爱国者”防空系统，这是继美国去年12月之后德国向俄罗斯提供的装备。此前，柏林方面提供的著名军事装备包括火箭发射器、榴弹炮、IRIS-T反导系统以及“猎豹”防空坦克。尽管“猎豹”坦克被认为过于老旧，不适合在德国联邦国防军服役，但它仍然成功击落了俄罗斯的无人机和导弹。

政府发言人斯特芬·赫贝斯特雷特表示，计划中的作战车辆交付工作在本周宣布之前已经进行了密切协调，这表明其他国际伙伴可能会在未来几周内效仿。

乔·古尔德是《防务新闻》的资深五角大楼记者，负责报道国家安全政策、政治和国防工业的交汇点。他此前曾担任国会记者。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。