Pentagon contractors may win inflation adjustments as Washington, Moscow and Kyiv clamor for new weapons
(Originally published Nov. 9 in “What in the World“) Ukraine is now echoing what Western officials have been warning: that Russia is seeking to acquire long-range, ballistic missiles from Iran to overcome Kyiv’s growing system of air defenses.
Specifically, Moscow is accused of trying to buy Tehran’s Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar missiles. Iran has denied any plans to sell Moscow missiles, though it has now admitted selling it the drones Russia is now using to attack Ukraine before the February invasion. To defend itself against these new Iranian missiles, Ukraine says it would need the kind of long-range systems that can obliterate them on their launchpads—precisely the kind of systems Washington has resisted giving Ukraine for fear it will launch attacks on Russian soil and provoke an expansion of the war.
Ukraine already has 16 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or Himars. These truck-mounted rocket launchers are armed with missiles that can reach at least 70km, but not with longer-range missiles capable of hitting targets up to 300km away. Ukraine also this week received its first National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or Nasams, which are designed to shoot down incoming targets up to 50km away.
Until the war is won, the world won’t be able to meaningfully slow climate change, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned world leaders who burned precious fossil fuels to convene in air-conditioned comfort in the Egyptian desert resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh (in case you hadn’t caught the irony). Zelensky, who was attending virtually by video link, has a point: nations deprived of Russian natural gas have resorted to burning more coal. And electorates distracted by the urgent demands of short-term survival in a burgeoning Cold War may find it difficult to focus on the still strangely more abstract threat posed by climate change.
Just waging the Cold War is becoming increasingly expensive. Once the dust settles on midterm elections today, Congress will vote on at least $740 billion in new funding for the Pentagon. The bill also includes a provision that allows defense contractors to adjust their bills to compensate for inflation.