The Pentagon is asking Congress for $18.2 billion to replenish its stockpiles of missiles for the Patriot and THAAD systems
The U.S. Department of Defense has asked Congress to allocate $18.2 billion to urgently replenish stockpiles of interceptor missiles for missile defense systems. Officials in Washington emphasize that current stockpiles are at dangerously low levels.
The $18.2 billion request is part of a large-scale emergency funding package for the Pentagon totaling $67 billion, which was previously submitted to the U.S. Congress for consideration.
According to the request, $5.75 billion is earmarked for the purchase of interceptor missiles for THAAD systems, and another $5.57 billion is allocated for missiles for Patriot air and missile defense systems.
In addition, $1.9 billion is earmarked for the purchase of SM-6 (Standard Missile-6) long-range guided interceptor missiles, which are used on U.S. Navy ships.
The Pentagon notes that the additional funding is necessary to rapidly replenish stocks of modern missile defense systems amid growing global security challenges.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
As a reminder, Ukraine is negotiating with the Pentagon to obtain a license to manufacture PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense systems. At the same time, it may take between one and five years to deploy the necessary production capacity.
The U.S. has signed a contract worth nearly $60 billion to produce missiles for the Patriot system — Reuters
As a reminder, during his visit to the U.S., Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with executives from the American defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The parties discussed joint weapons production, technology transfer, and strengthening Ukraine’s air defense system.
The American defense company Lockheed Martin announced the development of a new, more affordable interceptor for the Patriot air defense systems. In this way, the U.S. military is seeking cheaper ways to combat drones and missiles.
Zelenskyy convinced Washington that Ukraine can win.
