The Pentagon will convene a meeting of top weapons manufacturers on Wednesday to discuss the industry’s capacity to assist Ukraine in the war, according to a defense official and an industry official. extended with Russia.
Today’s meeting at the Pentagon will be classified and chaired by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. Attendees will represent Boeing, L3Harris, Raytheon, BAE, Lockheed Martin, Huntington Ingalls, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, a US official told CNN.
The three main topics to be discussed are supplying Ukraine, resupplying partners and allies, and resupplying US inventories.
On the Ukraine issue, they will further discuss Ukraine’s immediate security needs but must also consider at least two to four years.
The official said the assessment is that even if the Russian military were to leave somehow, there would still be long-term security concerns. They will also discuss that over time, some of the things being offered will be obsolete products and new versions will have to be made available to replace them.
With regards to partners and allies, participants will discuss what might be in production or going into production as a reasonable fill (particularly the Patriot system). US production will become obsolete with new versions over time, and they will discuss whether those versions are available and exportable.
More information about the meeting: The meeting between defense contractors and the Pentagon, first reported by Reuters, was held a few days ago, according to a defense industry official with direct knowledge of the deals. this.
The official said contractors were told the focus of the meeting was “the industry’s capacity” to support Ukraine if the war continued for several years.
The feeling of everything, the official said, is that the US is “assuming this is going to be a multi-year effort” in a scenario where, at a minimum, Ukraine won’t be able to safely manufacture weapons. all in their own country.
But during the meeting, the official said, contractors were likely to raise serious challenges facing the US defense manufacturing industry, including ongoing supply chain issues and serious as well as lack of affordable labor.
All of this continues to limit defense production capacity right now and could worsen as defense spending in the budget increases and Ukrainian contracts scramble for production capacity, crucially. this office said.
Capacity issues are also affecting the production of critical munitions supplies, although most of them are done in government-owned contractor-run facilities.
The US has allowed more $2.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the Biden administration, including more than $1.7 billion since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The United States is expected Will announce on Wednesday it is sending hundreds of millions of dollars in new military assistance to Ukrainethree sources familiar with the package told CNN.
