Representatives from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine have presented a new list of weapons and military equipment needed by the Ukrainian Defense Forces during a closed defense conference in Washington, D.C.
The conference, held on December 6, was attended by American government officials and executives from the defense industry. Reuters journalists were able to review the presented documents.
Read more: The United States and Ukraine Signed a Memorandum of Understanding to Jointly Produce Weapons and Exchange Technical Information
The traditional items include M1 Abrams tanks, 155mm artillery systems, F-16 multirole fighters, TACMS long-range missiles, etc.
However, there are also several new weapons not previously supplied to Ukraine. Among them is the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile defense system developed by Lockheed Martin. Defense Express previously discussed this system in terms of how much time and resources would be required for its potential deployment in Ukraine.
Next is the aircraft. Ukraine is requesting the F-18 Hornet, and there have been earlier indications that Australia might come forward and provide a dozen decommissioned F-18s to Ukraine, although no progress publicly known so far since summer.
The list also includes military transport aircraft, specifically the C-17 Globemaster and C-130 Hercules.
Helicopters featured on the list include the AH-64 Apache and Black Hawk models. Additionally, Ukraine is seeking three types of drones from General Atomics, including the MQ-9B Sky Guardian, a modification of the famous Reaper drone.
Earlier Defense Express reported that Ukraine will start a joint venture with the U.S. aimed at producing a new, unique family of air defense systems. Those are Soviet-type equipment, modernized and adapted to fire modern Western missiles. This generation of surface-to-air systems has been given the name of FrankenSAM.
Read more: The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine: Gift for Putin Initiative Raises Funds for Black Hawk Helicopter
