US and allies discussed upping weapons’ manufacturing for Ukraine – Pentagon

On September 28, Ukraine Defense Contact Group met in Brussels.

The forum enabled dialogue on opportunities to increase weapons production for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to Pentagon.

The National Armaments Directors and other partner countries took part in the meeting.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, and representatives from 45 other countries were present in addition to the US delegation.

“The forum enabled frank and open dialogue about defense industrial base challenges and opportunities to increase production of capabilities critical to Ukraine’s long-term defense,” the Pentagon emphasized.

The U.S. delegation outlined the Department’s analytical approach to identifying supply chain constraints for major components and sub-components, and plans to increase production of ground-based long range fires, air defense systems, air-to-ground munitions, and other capabilities.

Nearly 20 international partners briefed similar efforts to strengthen and expand their nations’ industrial base to accelerate production, spurring productive dialogue on areas for multi-national coordination.

With the aim of providing long-term support to Ukraine, participants recognized the importance of standardizing requirements, thereby creating more interchangeable and interoperable systems.

In addition, they discussed building sustainment capacity in Ukraine, including forward repair activity, access to spares, and other sustainment enablers.

The UDCG NADs committed to standing up smaller working groups to collectively drive progress on the above topics.

This working groups will define multi-national strategies to mitigate supply chain constraints, increase production, and pursue interchangeability in portfolio areas critical to Ukraine’s long-term success.

Yesterday, the United States allocated another $1.1 billion military aid package to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This is the beginning of the process of concluding contracts for the production of new weapons for the needs of Ukraine. Previously, the partners supported the Armed Forces of Ukraine with batches of ready-made weapons stored in US warehouses.