The Ukraine Defense Contact Group met for the 16th time on Oct. 11, this time in Brussels. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that Germany will be sending 10 Leopard A1 tanks to Ukraine, along with more air defense capability as part of a $11.1 billion package, Spain will be providing additional HAWK air defense systems, to include stepped up training support, Sweden is sending a $200 million package that includes artillery ammunition and Bulgaria is providing support for Ukraine’s S-300 air defense batteries. France will provide more CAESAR howitzers, Austin continued, while the U.K. and Canada will also step up their military support of the Kiev regime.
Not surprisingly, the question of whether the U.S. can support both Ukraine and Israel came up. “In terms of our ability to continue to support both the efforts in Ukraine and the—the efforts in—in Israel as well, absolutely we can do both and we will do both,” Austin claimed. The U.S. can do it, well, because “you know, we are the strongest nation in the world.”
As for the new arms package that the White House announced yesterday, it does not include ATACMS missiles. “I don’t have any announcements on ATACMS to make today,” Austin said, adding that the DOD is focused on what it believes Ukraine needs now.
As for the F-16s, the U.S. is stepping up its involvement in training Ukrainian pilots, but the earliest the planes will arrive is sometime next spring.
