Ukraine Gets HIMARS Boost in New $400M U.S. Package

A M142 HIMARS launches a rocket on the Bakhmut direction on May 18, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.

Ukraine is due to receive over 40 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems—colloquially known as HIMARS—and ammunition in a fresh $400 million package sent by the United States.

On Friday, the Biden administration announced a $400 million Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) military aid package for Ukraine. PDA allows for an expedited delivery of military assistance to foreign countries in times of need.

The aid package includes a plethora of U.S. weapons, but the HIMARS and its ammunition being sent will prove to be especially helpful. Earlier this week, Germany announced that it will purchase three new HIMARS from the U.S. Armed Forces for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion, which launched over two years ago in February 2022.

American-made HIMARS proved pivotal when they first joined the fight in the summer of 2022. The U.S. has supplied at least 39 HIMARS to Ukraine since the start of the war. The systems can fire a salvo of six rockets hitting targets out to around 50 miles, putting Russian troop concentrations, command posts, and supply hubs within reach. The HIMARS became a symbol of Ukrainian military potency and a prime target for Russian forces.

Promised aid from Germany and the U.S. come as Moscow launches an offensive operation along the Russian-Ukrainian border.

On Friday morning, Russian forces targeted northern Kharkiv Oblast, making tactically significant gains.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which tracks territorial gains in the Russia-Ukraine war on its website, wrote on Friday, "Russian forces are likely conducting the initial phase of an offensive operation north of Kharkiv City that has limited operational objectives but is meant to achieve the strategic effect of drawing Ukrainian manpower and materiel from other critical sectors of the front in eastern Ukraine."

ISW, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, added that Moscow's offensive operation was likely launched to take advantage of the time it has before Western aid largely arrives to the war-torn country. After months of pushback from Republican lawmakers, Congress passed a $95.3 billion foreign aid package, which included about $61 billion for Ukraine last month.

Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for House Affairs during the Obama administration, called the aid package a "lifeline" for the warn-torn country.

He told Newsweek via text message on Saturday: "The aid package now gives a lifeline to the Ukrainian military to stave off Vladimir Putin's unjustified invasion of that country. It could provide enough support for up to two years and because of that, incentivize Putin to accept that he can't win and that he should instead look for alternatives to this invasion. While we don't know if he'll do that, what we do know is that the alternative, which would have been to not send the weapons, would have led to Ukraine's collapse and a direct military threat on NATO's doorstep."

Here is everything included in the $400 million package that Biden is expediting:

• Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems
• Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS)
• Stinger anti-aircraft missiles
• Equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's systems
• Additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and ammunition
• 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
• Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles
• M113 Armored Personnel Carriers
• Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles
• Trailers to transport heavy equipment
• Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
• Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems
• Precision aerial munitions
• High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs)
• Small arms and additional rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades
• Demolitions munitions and equipment for obstacle clearing
• Coastal and riverine patrol boats
• Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment
• Spare parts, training munitions, maintenance, and other ancillary equipment

When reached for comment by Newsweek on Saturday morning, the U.S. Department of Defense referred to its press release announcing the additional aid, which stated: "The United States will continue to work together with some 50 Allies and partners to ensure Ukraine's brave defenders receive the critical capabilities needed to fight Russian aggression."

Newsweek also reached out to Ukraine's foreign affairs ministry via email.

Update 5/11/24, 11:55 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Rubin.

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