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US Withholding Air Defense Missiles 07/03 06:18
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration will hold back delivering to
Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons
as part of its announced pause to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that
its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.
The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed
by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the
matter. They both requested anonymity to discuss what is are being held up as
the Pentagon has yet to provide details.
The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided
GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.
It is a setback for Ukraine, which has faced increasing, and more complex,
air barrages from Russia during the more than three-year-long war and as
President Donald Trump remains determined to quickly conclude a conflict that
he had promised as candidate to end of Day One of his second term.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined during a briefing Wednesday to
detail which weapons were being held back but said a pause to consider the
health of the U.S. stockpile was necessary.
"I think that for a long time, four years under the Biden administration, we
were giving away weapons and munitions without really thinking about how many
we have," Parnell said. He added, "And I think that this president was elected
on putting this country first and defending the homeland."
The decision was met with some pushback from Republican and Democratic
boosters on Capitol Hill.
In a letter to Trump on Wednesday, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., requested
a briefing from the White House and the Pentagon to explain the pause.
Fitzpatrick is a co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus.
"We must build up our own defense industrial base here in the U.S. while
simultaneously providing the needed assistance to our allies who are defending
their freedom from a brutal invading dictator," the Pennsylvania representative
said in a post on X. "To not do both is unacceptable."
Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, another co-chair of the Ukraine Caucus, blasted the
move that came just days after Russians forces launched one of the biggest air
assaults on Ukraine since it launched the war more than three years ago.
"U.S. made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the
centerpiece of Ukraine's defenses against Russian strikes. They work. They save
lives every day," the Ohio Democrat said. "But there are no parallel defensive
alternatives for Ukraine if the U.S. stops supplying these vital munitions."
The move was a bit surprising after Trump last week at the NATO summit
suggested that he remained open to sending more Patriot missiles to Ukraine,
though he acknowledged it would be difficult.
"They do want to have the antimissile missiles, OK, as they call them, the
Patriots," Trump said. "And we're going to see if we can make some available.
We need them, too. We're supplying them to Israel, and they're very effective,
100% effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any
other thing."
Over the course of the war, the U.S. has routinely pressed for allies to
provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the
high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel
threatened by Russia.
One of the officials said other weaponry being held up includes the AIM-7
Sparrow -- a medium-range radar homing air-to-air missile -- as well as
shorter-range Stinger missiles and AT-4 grenade launchers.
The Pentagon review that determined that stocks were too low on some weapons
previously pledged comes just over a week after Trump helped forge a ceasefire
between Israel and Iran to end their 12-day conflict. The U.S. has provided
provided air defense support to Israel, Qatar and other Mideast neighbors.
The demands in several places are butting up against the reality that the
U.S. military does not have enough munitions on hand to sustain a high rate of
deliveries, while providing troops with equipment to train on and build up a
stockpile for a potential future conflict.
The U.S. deployed air defenses systems as it knocked down an Iranian
ballistic missile assault last month launched on the Al-Udeid Air Base in
Qatar. The retaliatory strike from Tehran against the U.S. military
installation came days after Trump ordered a barrage of strikes on three key
Iranian nuclear sites.
While Patriot missile stocks have long been a concern, holding up some of
the other weaponry was puzzling, said retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery,
an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
"This is going to hurt Ukrainian civilians," Montgomery said. "There is
still an opportunity here for the president to rein in the Pentagon before real
damage is done."
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