The amount is colossal.
The United States is about to release a new package of nearly 40 billion dollars (38.4 billion euros) in aid for Ukraine.
After the approval of the House of Representatives on May 10, the bill must now pass before the Senate, before being signed into law by Joe Biden.
An unprecedented commitment which is not without consequences for the American arms industry.
The aid is distributed as follows: 6 billion dollars to reinforce the equipment of the Ukrainian army in armored vehicles and its anti-aircraft defence, some 8.7 billion dollars to resupply the American military equipment already received by Kyiv, and an additional $11 billion in emergency supplies that the White House can release without a green light from Congress.
The rest of the 40 billion dollars voted is devoted to non-military purposes, with a humanitarian component and economic aid.
Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Washington has already sent more than $3.5 billion worth of weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, M777 howitzer artillery, and the new Switchblade and Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drones.
The extent of these arms transfers to Ukraine is beginning to worry some parliamentarians and military experts.
They fear a worrying and lasting reduction in American arms stocks, particularly in the event of tensions on other fronts, with North Korea, Iran or even China.
Limited missile stocks
At the heart of the concerns, the decrease in stocks of American Javelins and Stingers.
The Pentagon has not bought Stinger missiles for almost twenty years, while the manufacturer Raytheon has warned that its stocks of spare parts are limited.
However, more than 1,400 of these anti-aircraft missiles, or a quarter of American reserves, have already been transferred to kyiv.
Democrat Adam Smith and Republican Mike Rogers, two prominent members of the House Armed Services Committee, have already sounded the alarm.
"I've been asking the Department of Defense for almost two months for a plan to resupply our Stinger and Javelin stockpile," lamented Mike Rogers, who warned Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley of the urgency. of the situation in a letter dated March.
“The United States has sent about a third of its stockpile of Javelins and Stingers,” calculated Mark Cancian, a former Marine colonel and Pentagon budget strategy expert, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic. and International Studies in Washington.
Information he says he confirmed with the Ministry of Defense.
Lack of skilled labor
The catch, the weapons expert points out, is that it will take the United States at least four years to replenish its stockpiles of Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Knowing that the country currently produces around a thousand a year – including 200 sold abroad – and that Washington has sent 5,500 to Ukraine, it will probably be necessary to double production, which may take some time to implement. road, he warns.
It is in this context that Joe Biden went on May 2 to the Lockheed Martin factory in Alabama where these famous Javelins are manufactured, to encourage employees there to work twice as hard.
A visit that was to highlight a powerful military industry.
But the reality is quite different.
The American armaments industry is sorely lacking in manpower and, in many cases, the subcontractors are located abroad, making the Americans' desire for rapid rearmament more complex, analyzes Michael O'Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"The problem is not only that the arms companies have difficulty getting people who are, for example, employees of Starbucks to work for them. The concern is that these people have no not have the necessary skills. There are about 6 million qualified employees missing to run the American economy as a whole."
Within the Ministry of Defence, the time has therefore come to find solutions.
The Pentagon holds weekly meetings with defense companies, particularly to help them solve problems in their supply chains by finding new suppliers for the rarest parts.
Others propose to diversify arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The American army has a wide variety of equipment, offering the same capabilities as the Javelins, argued Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Minister of Defense, to the British weekly The Economist.
"We have to keep giving weapons to Ukraine without endangering our security. We are going to have to adapt what we give them. We can give them TOW anti-tank missiles instead of Javelins, we can give them older howitzers instead of the most recent, and our European allies can do the same", also suggests Mark Cancian.
Test new drones
On the other hand, with regard to the Switchblade and Phoenix Ghost drones sent to Ukraine, it would seem that the war presents an opportunity for Washington, which would like to have a more precise idea of their functioning.
"These are new systems [of suicide drones capable of piercing armor, editor's note] - they are almost experimental - so it is not surprising that we have sent almost all our inventory", indicates the former colonel Mark Cancian.
The liquidation of stockpiles of missiles, such as the four-decade-old Stingers, could also be used, other observers believe, to develop more modern versions of these weapons.
"The problem is urgent: it is about what we can do in the next 12 to 14 months", replies Michael O'Hanlon.
"However, to develop new weapons systems, it takes at least two years and there are no technological or labor problems. Which is not the case today."
This article has been adapted from English. Find the original here.
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app
google-play-badge_EN