The latest list of U.S. weapons that Ukraine needs to fight the Russian army includes modern air defense systems, F-18 fighters, drones, Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, Reuters reports, citing documents seen by the agency.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry officials presented a “list of weapons to meet the needs of Ukraine’s defense forces” during a closed-door session of a conference in Washington on Wednesday attended by government officials and defense industry executives.
The full list includes weapons that Ukraine already has in stock, such as Abrams tanks and 155mm artillery, as well as some weapons, such as F-16s, drones, and long-range ATACMS missiles, that it has requested in the past.
“But there are a few surprises on the list, including expensive items such as Boeing’s (BA.N) C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft and Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) C-130 Super Hercules. The list includes Apache attack helicopters, as well as the Black Hawk helicopter manufactured by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky division,” the report said.
According to Reuters, the documents show that Ukraine is also requesting F-18 Hornet fighter jets, three types of General Atomics drones, including the MQ-9B Sky Guardian, and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system made by Lockheed.
The National Guard of Ukraine will receive ten H225 helicopters in 2021-2022 under the contract with Airbus Helicopters, the Interior Ministry said.
In accordance with the agreement between the Ukrainian and French governments, Airbus Helicopters and the state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Aviation and Transport Enterprise Khoryv Avia signed a contract for the supply of 12 H225 helicopters for the needs of the National Guard in 2018-2022, according to a report on Telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
At the official meeting, representatives of the National Guard of Ukraine and Airbus Helicopters considered the issue of supplying six aircraft in 2021 and sending two helicopters available at National Guard to Airbus Helicopters enterprises. This decision was made in order to carry out modernization in a bid to upgrade the helicopters that were previously transferred.
In 2018-2019, Airbus Helicopters supplied two helicopters. In addition, representatives of the company retrained two crews of the National Guard and part of the engineering and technical staff (in France, Scotland and Germany to ensure the maintenance and operation of these helicopters), the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
