FRIDAY FOTO (September 9, 2022)

BOUND FOR UKRAINE.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Matt Porter)

Senior Airman Natasha Mundt, 14th Airlift Squadron loadmaster, and other airmen assigned to the 305th Aerial Port squadron, load Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System munitions to a C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on  August 13, 2022.

The munitions cargo is part of an additional security assistance package for Ukraine. The security assistance the U.S. is providing to Ukraine is enabling critical success on the battlefield against the Russian invading force.

On Thursday, September 8, the Pentagon announced another authorization of security assistance valued at up to $675 million to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs. This authorization is the Biden Administration’s twentieth drawdown of equipment from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.

Weaponry and other equipment includes more ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that have been playing havoc with Russian facilities — including ammo dumps and command centers — behind the front lines, as this CBS News piece illustrates.

Also going to Ukraine will be: Four 105mm Howitzers and 36,000 105mm artillery rounds; additional High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARM) that destroy enemy radar-equipped air defense systems; 100 Armored High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV); 1.5 million rounds of small arms ammunition; more than 5,000 anti-armor systems; 1,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems; 50 armored medical treatment vehicles; plus additional grenade launchers, small arms, night vision devices and other field equipment.

Additionally, the U.S. State Department notified Congress it intends to make $2 billion available in long-term investments in Foreign Military Financing. One billion to bolster Ukraine’s security and the other $1 billion for 18 of Ukraine’s regional neighbors.

To date, the United States has committed approximately $15.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021. Since 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Ukrainian territory in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, the United States has committed more than $17.2 billion in security assistance — and more than $14.5 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.

FRIDAY FOTO (February 15, 2013)

Boom in a Box

Defense Department photo by Glenn Fawcet

U.S. soldiers stand beside a Patriot anti-missile missile battery awaiting the arrival of U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter who was visiting a Turkish army base in Gaziantep, Turkey, last week (Feb. 4).

Two PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile systems and about 400 U.S. personnel to operate them began providing missile defense along Turkey’s southwestern border with Syria since late January. Other missile defense batteries are being provided by the Netherlands and Germany. They along with the United States and Turkey are all NATO members.

NATO foreign ministers agreed in late November to Turkey’s request for the air defense support. The request came after shells from Syria’s political unrest -– which a recent United Nations report estimated has claimed 60,000 lives — spilled into Turkey.

And no, those aren’t packing crates for the missiles in the photo. Those “boxes” are actually part of the launch system.

To see more photos of the Patriots and Carter’s visit to Turkey — including the U.S. embassy damaged by a terrorist suicide bomber, click here.