Ukraine opens weapons office in DC and Europe boosts defense spending as November US elections approach

WASHINGTON – NATO countries are taking steps to bolster their weapons production capabilities as a hedge against November’s presidential vote, signing a nearly $700 million contract for more Stinger missiles and making pledges to increase their own missile production. defense.

Ukraine, a partner who depends on military aid of NATO members, is opening a small office in Washington to strengthen its ties with the US defense industry. Regardless of whether President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump wins the US election, the alliance and Ukraine want to be in a better position to provide more of their own defense needs.

The announcements were made on Tuesday, at the beginning of the NATO Summit in Washingtonwhere leaders focused on the need to support Ukraine and ensure the alliance is prepared for any future threats.

Before Invasion of Russia in 2022Oleksandr Kamyshin, Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, worked on his farm.

“I was a happy Ukrainian dealing with agriculture and knowing nothing about military matters,” Kamyshin said. Ukraine in 2021 did not produce ammunition and started the conflict with the stocks it had on the shelves, he said.

This is changing rapidly as Ukraine develops a sophisticated drone industry, produces more weapons domestically and works to integrate more deeply into US and European defense companies.

“We are redefining ourselves from an agricultural country into the arsenal of a different world,” Kamyshin said.

Biden announced on Tuesday another major air defense package for Ukraine, and outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance had signed the Stinger contract.

“There is no way to provide a strong defense without a strong defense industry,” Stoltenberg said in announcing the contract.

The Stinger is a portable surface-to-air defense system that can be carried and fired by troops or mounted on a vehicle and used as a short-range defense against aircraft.

The system produced by Raytheon was one of the first weapons the US sent to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. It is now among hundreds of types of systems and tens of millions of ammunition, artillery and missiles that countries have removed from their arsenals to help Ukraine. But the rapid push over the past two years revealed that defense companies in both the US and Europe were not prepared to produce at the levels needed in a major conventional war.

The NATO summit takes place in a context of uncertainty. US political divisions have delayed arms supplies to Ukraine for months and the upcoming presidential elections are raising concerns that US support – with weapons and troops – in the event of threats against member countries cannot always be guaranteed.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, boasted during campaign speeches which would encourage Russia to do whatever it wants with NATO members who do not meet their commitment to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

Kamyshin, who spoke at an evening event on Tuesday about the EU’s defense industry, said the growth of Ukraine’s defense industry should put it in a stronger position regardless of who wins the US election.

“The defense industry must be strong regardless of party elections,” Kamyshin said. “But I heard that Republicans also defend the defense industry.”

It’s not just Ukraine. Both in the US and across Europe, some defense production lines were stagnant at the time of the 2022 invasion and are only now ramping up production numbers. Accumulation has depended on the signing of new long-term contracts to support further capital investment in necessary infrastructure.

“It’s not about changes or bottlenecks. It’s building new factories,” said Morten Brandtzaeg, CEO of Nammo, a munitions company based in Norway.

The war also encouraged NATO members to increase the amount they spend on defense.

Of NATO’s 32 members, 23 are expected to meet the 2% pledge this year, up from just six before Russia’s invasion. This is still considered insufficient, as Russia took advantage of the size of its workforce to quickly replace weapons lost in the war.

“If you want to fight a war for a long time, you need to have an industry that has the capacity to last a long time,” Brandtzaeg said.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said Russia now spends around 7% to 9% of its GDP on defense. Estonia is spending more than 3% of its GDP on defense, but needs to do more to replenish its arsenals, Pevkur said.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said his country will dedicate at least 4% of its GDP to defense this year.

The war in Ukraine “has exposed major weaknesses in Poland, the region and the world at large,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Since the invasion, the US has provided more than $53.6 billion in weapons and security assistance to Ukraine. This support, at a time when the US is also sending weapons to Israel and Taiwan, has strained the US arsenal. Remaining NATO members and other international partners have provided about $50 billion in weapons and security assistance, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, an independent research organization based in Germany.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that, for the first time, each NATO country will commit to making plans to strengthen its own industrial defense capabilities. He said this would help the alliance “prioritize the production of the most vital defense equipment we would need in the event of a conflict.”

The 32 members have widely varying sizes and capabilities in the defense industry, so each country’s plan can vary widely, from partnerships with industry to partnerships with other countries.

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Cook reported from Brussels.