The Pentagon has a massive infusion of military aid for Ukraine “ready to go,” U.S. officials said, once a long-delayed funding measure, which is expected to pass the House this weekend, clears the Senate next week and President Biden signs it into law.
The Defense Department, which has warned that Ukraine would steadily cede more ground to Russian forces and face staggering casualties without urgent action on Capitol Hill, began assembling the assistance package well before the coming votes in a bid to speed the process, these people said.
One official, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Biden administration’s planning, said that once the $95 billion foreign aid bill is finalized, it would take less than a week for some of the weapons to reach the battlefield, depending on where they are stored. The legislation includes about $60 billion for Ukraine, with most of the remainder slated for Israel and U.S. partners in Asia.
The US on the regular flexes their ‘global airlift’ capability by shuffling tanks and armored vehicles around the globe via air freight, moving entire company’s worth of hardware between continents.
Sensible militaries with actual budgetary concerns use sea freight, accepting the delay.
Well yeah we built this fuckin rad giant plane that you can drive a whole tank into. What are we gonna do, not fly tanks around?