Bitterly divided at home, the U.S. is sending the Pentagon on a Cold War shopping spree to face down foes abroad.
(Originally published Nov. 8 in “What in the World“) A British think tank is warning that Ukraine will urgently need more western anti-missile systems to keep Russia from leveling its cities.
The Royal United Services Institute warns in a new report that Russia’s recent attacks against civilian targets in Ukraine are being overseen by its new top commander in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin. Surovikin is famous for the brutality of his campaign in Syria. And while he can’t use Russian aircraft to bombard Ukrainian cities like he did in Syria, he’s now using artillery and Iranian drones to accomplish something similar. To defend itself, the report warns, Ukraine urgently needs more “man-portable air-defense systems,” or Manpads.
The Institute appears to be preaching to the choir. Ukraine has just received its first National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or Nasams, built by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Raytheon. The Pentagon has also just approved a new, $400 million infusion of military hardware that includes refurbished MIM-23 HAWK air defense missiles, also from Raytheon. The report’s recommendation: more, fast.
The Pentagon aims to fund a major expansion of America’s war machine to cope with the new Cold War. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante said last week that the U.S. Congress is poised to approve multiyear funding “to really put into the industrial base―and I’m talking billions of dollars into the industrial base―to fund these production lines.”
The Senate is due to vote after the midterm elections on its annual defense authorization bill. Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee introduced a bipartisan amendment to this year’s bill that would grant the Pentagon wartime procurement authority to buy massive amounts of weapons to supply Ukraine and restock its own arsenal. That bill also includes $10 billion arms for Taiwan to defend itself against a potential invasion by China—double the amount initially proposed.
Bitterly divided at home, the nation’s two opposing parties seem to agree on one thing for sure: the need to face down the growing threat posed by the rest of the world to America’s fading democracy.