http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/460824.html
The draft U.S. defense budget for next year envisages the allocation of $350 million to provide assistance to Ukraine in matters related to security, including giving Kyiv defensive lethal weapons, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to Washington Valeriy Chaly.
"We have further support of Ukraine's defense capabilities by the U.S. The U.S. defense budget for 2018 provides $350 million for security policy assistance to Ukraine and a significant expansion in its scope. The draft law authorizes the provision of lethal weapons of a defensive nature to our state," he wrote in his Facebook page late on Thursday.
According to the Ukrainian diplomat, the document also envisages funds for the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in U.S. medical institutions and training of Ukrainian medics in this field.
"For the first time, it is proposed to provide Ukraine with such defensive means: air defense radar and above-water surveillance means, naval countermine equipment, coastal patrol and defense ships," Chaly wrote.
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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/460826.html
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing its own sources, the U.S. administration is ready to approve the sale of anti-tank Javelin rockets to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko earlier expressed a desire to purchase the weapon system.
The decision of the U.S. administration is coordinated with both houses of the U.S. legislature in the 2018 military budget.
The legislation "authorizes $350 million to provide security assistance to Ukraine, including defensive lethal assistance," the document said.
The budget restricts half of these funds until the U.S. Secretary of Defense "certifies that Ukraine has taken substantial action to make defense institutional reforms critical to sustaining capabilities developed using security assistance," it noted.
Poroshenko earlier said Kyiv would be given $500 million worth of "lethal defensive weapons."
The British non-governmental organization European Leadership Network (ELN), commenting on the proposed delivery of weapons to Ukraine, said it would complicate the situation [in Donbas] for the Kremlin.
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The Javelin’s Command Launch Unit—CLU—has a sophisticated infrared sensor with multiple viewing modes, including 4x optical zoom, a 4x green-lit thermal view, and a 12x narrow-vision zoom activated for targeting. The seeker in the missile even provides a fourth 9x thermal viewing mode. The CLU can therefore serve as a handy scanning device for the infantry. The thermal viewers on the Javelin needs to be cooled off to function well, which theoretically takes 30 seconds,The system also incorporates multiple safeguards to avert or abort accidental launch.
The CLU, when loaded with a missile, weighs in at 50 pounds (most of the weight comes from the missile), and can be fired from a crouch or even seated position. That’s a lot lighter than the wire-guided TOW or other long-range missiles that typically required a heavy tripod. Still, it’s not exactly something you’d want to run a marathon with.
The Javelin’s 127 millimeter shaped charge warhead is estimated to penetrate the equivalent of 600 to 800 millimeters of Rolled Hardened Armor (RHA), One of the Javelin’s few limitations is its range—2.5 kilometers. Though adequate for most combat situations. Finally, a new extended range Javelin has been
recently tested capable of hitting targets up to 4.5 kilometers away. This is significant, as one of the chief rationales for keeping the TOW missile as the standard vehicle-mounted anti-tank weapon was its longer range of nearly 5 kilometers. A long-range Javelin would seem to be superior.
For example, the United States has provided 120 Javelin launch units to Estonia and
260 to Lithuania.
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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/460840.html
The approved draft of the new U.S. National Defense Authorization Act foresees the rehabilitation of wounded Ukrainian servicemen in U.S. medical institutions, the training of Ukrainian medical experts in this field, as well as the strengthening of the Ukrainian Air Force and Navy, Ukraine's Embassy in the U.S. has reported.
"The draft law authorizes the provision of defensive lethal weapons to our state. It also includes new provisions allowing the use of U.S. defense budget funds for the rehabilitation of wounded Ukrainian servicemen in U.S. medical institutions, the teaching and training of Ukrainian medical experts in this field, as well as the strengthening of the capabilities of the air and naval forces of our state," the embassy reported on its Facebook page late on Thursday, November 9.
The diplomats specified that for the first time at the legislative level, Washington proposes giving Ukraine such defensive means as air-defense and surface search surveillance radars, naval countermine means, offshore and coastal patrol ships.
The bill must be voted by the Senate and the House of Representatives before is it submitted for signature by the U.S. president.
"The position of both chambers of the U.S. parliament once again underscores the high level of bicameral and bipartisan support of Ukraine in opposing the Kremlin's aggression," the embassy said.
As reported, the approved draft U.S. defense budget envisions authorizes $350 million to provide security assistance to Ukraine, including defensive lethal assistance.
At the same time, the legislation restricts half of these funds until the "Secretary of Defense certifies that Ukraine has taken substantial action to make defense institutional reforms critical to sustaining capabilities developed using security assistance."
In addition, the draft bill envisages allocations of $100 million to Baltic countries to beef up their defenses against possible Russian aggression.