Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
President Biden released details of the new $ security package on Thursday millions of dollars that the United States is sending to Ukraine.
Biden said he sent an “unequivocal message” to the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin: “He will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine”, according to The New York Times.
President Biden announced another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine on Thursday, saying it sent an “unmistakable message” to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin: “He will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine.” https://t.co/cfB0Cx5PYu pic.twitter.com/hosUtWksgv
– The New York Times (@nytimes) April 21, 2022
Not long after President Joe Biden announced that the US was supplying more weapons to Ukrainian forces as they push back the Russian invaders, the Pentagon announced the list of the items, which included howitzers, tactical field equipment and spare parts, although Biden made it clear that details of part of the weaponry were kept secret, presumably due to increasing Russian threats to intercept and destroy it.
New Secret Weapon
The Pentagon is giving Ukraine a new secret drone that the U.S. Air Force The United States has developed, one that adapts “very well” to the The needs of the Ukrainian army, the Department of Defense revealed on 21 of April.
The flow of security assistance to Ukraine continues. Today, @POTUS announced another $800 million in munitions and supplies, including Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems and 72 more Howitzers. pic.twitter.com/JRqlKpRL4c
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) April 21, 2022
The United States will deliver at least 121 of new Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems to Ukraine as part of a new $800 million dollars announced by Pentagon press secretary John F. Kirby on Thursday.
What is Phoenix Ghost?
“This is a drone that had been in development before the invasion, clearly”, Kirby said during the press conference.
“The Air Force was working on this, and in discussions with the Ukrainians about their requirements, we believed that this particular system would be very well suited to their needs, particularly in eastern Ukraine.”
Kirby said he didn’t have an exact date for when development on Phoenix Ghost began. But since the Air Force had at least 120 to ship from its inventory, “ you wouldn’t have 120 on your shelves if you started buying them on 24 February”, the day Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began .
“Which was probably not as well written as it should have been which was developed for a set of requirements that very closely matches what Ukrainians need right now in Donbas,” Kirby said, referring to the eastern region of Ukraine where Russia has focused its attack in recent days.
The Phoenix Ghost drones, designed by AEVEX Aerospace, “offer similar capabilities” Switchblade drones, which were part of an earlier US military assistance package to Ukraine.
The exact capabilities that Phoenix Ghost will offer Ukraine are being kept secret, as Kirby declined to comment on them. But he did say that the drone is “similar” to the Switchblade drone that the United States has already delivered to Ukraine.
Switchblade drones are often They are called “kamikaze drones” because they are capable of flying over a target before crashing and detonating in a precision strike. The different versions of the Switchblade can fly between 000 and 54 minutes, with a range of 10 a 40 kilometres.
The Phoenix Ghost is “designed for tactical operations,” Kirby said. “In other words, largely, but not exclusively, to attack targets. Like almost all unmanned aerial systems, of course, it has optics. So it can also be used to give you a visual of what you’re seeing, of course, but your main focus is attack.” And he added that the drone is a unidirectional system, which means that it should not be recovered.
Since Russia launched its invasion, the Department of Defense has provided military aid worth more than $4,000 million dollars to Ukraine, including another package of $800 million dollars in mid-March, followed by another $100 million dollars in early April. Kirby previously said all of this aid would be delivered in full by mid-April.
In addition to Switchblades drones and the new Phoenix Ghost, the DOD has also provided Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Mi-17, Humvees, artillery and millions of ammunition for small arms and grenades, among other items.
It may interest you:
– “Let not a fly escape”: Putin changes his strategy and now decides to surround the last stronghold of resistance in Mariupol– What are the Switchblade “kamikaze” drones that the United States has committed to Ukraine?
– Biden will send $800 additional millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and claims that the war has entered the “next phase”