LUXEMBOURG – Luxembourg’s army includes less than 1,000 soldiers, a cargo plane, two helicopters shared with the police force and less than 200 trucks, ranging from Humvees to about 10 combat reconnaissance vehicles Modern Dingo Battle.
None of the tanks, fighters, or Patriot air defense missiles helped push the West to arm Ukraine. The 102 anti-tank missiles and 20,000 machine gun rounds that Luxembourg sent from its arsenal is the maximum amount of weapons the country can supply without jeopardizing the army’s combat readiness. me.
So Luxembourg, a country with a population of 645,000, decided to use its considerable wealth to try to buy arms for Ukraine on the open market and signed a multi-million dollar deal. last spring to buy 6,000 Soviet-era missiles. However, in the end, the government only delivered 600 units and had to find a way to spend the money.
At a time when the West’s stockpiles of Soviet-era weapons and ammunition are dwindling, Luxembourg’s hard work opens up an opportunity to solve the vexing problem of supplying Ukraine with the weapons needed to stop it. block Russia until sophisticated Western missiles, missiles and tanks appear later. This year.
Ukraine has ignite the ammunition depot with extraordinary speed since the beginning of the war, relying on allies to replace its supply. But there were no arms manufacturers in Luxembourg, and the government gave all it thought it could afford from its own limited arsenal.
But determined to contribute more to the war effort, Luxembourg formed a group of two internal arms dealers shortly after the Russian invasion. They began scouring the commercial arms markets in Europe and the United States, and to demonstrate that their country’s commitment to defeating Russia was as great as that of its much larger NATO partners.
Luxembourg Defense Minister Francois Bausch, who also serves as Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, said: “We are too small and do not have a large army, so the supply is limited, and we I wanted to help Ukraine from the very beginning.” in a recent interview. “But we’re flexible, so we can go buy what they need in the market and deliver it directly to them.”
He also parallels Luxembourg’s history as a country invaded during World War I and World War II. “We have been occupied many times over the last century, so we have a tremendous sensitivity about what it means for what is happening in Ukraine,” Mr. Bausch said.
“We cannot let Putin do what he intends,” he added.
Most NATO countries are donating from their own military stockpiles, in a fairly simple processbut some are also grabbing weapons to sell on the commercial market.
But it’s quieter work, especially when buy Soviet-era weapons on the other hand is of little use to NATO, from sellers who may not want to be identified for fear of jeopardizing their business by angering Russia.
The men of Luxembourg’s new armaments unit knew little of this as they attacked across Europe. They quickly discovered that they could order Soviet-era missiles, the BM-21 Grads, built at a manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic – they thought a natural fit for the military. Ukrainian teams have been trained to use them. But as is often the case in the unpredictable world of weapons procurement, the deal soon flattened out.
Struggling with high demand for Grads after the war began, the Czech manufacturer ran out of spare parts. Worse still, most of the company’s suppliers are in Russia or countries that refuse to export equipment that could be used to help Ukraine. In the end, Luxembourg had to deal with 600 missiles, one tenth of the original target.
Not all of the country’s deals have gone south. Mr. Bausch said it has managed to deliver or contract about $94 million in weapons and other military assistance to Ukraine from manufacturers in the UK, France, Poland and the Netherlands – about 16% of the budget. national defense.
But it’s been a struggle, and it’s still a minuscule amount compared to the billions of dollars in security assistance that NATO powers like Britain, Germany and the United States have given Ukraine since last February. These three countries alone have committed nearly $40 billion to date.
Anna-Lena Högenauer, associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Luxembourg, said the government appeared to be grappling with long-standing apprehensions about military entanglement, despite public support. them for Ukraine.
“Luxembourg has less tradition and certainly less experience in participating in conflicts,” said Ms. Högenauer. “It’s a bit out of the comfort zone of a small country that doesn’t really think militarily.”
Luxembourg spends less on its military than any other NATO country, and is the only country in the alliance contributed less than 1 percent of gross domestic product to defense last year. (NATO members have committed to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense, but only about a third of the 30 countries now do so.)
And Luxembourg, with a GDP over $130,000 per person – by far the highest in NATO – contributed only $25 million to Ukraine in humanitarian aid and contributions to NATO and European Union programs that are supporting Kiev, according to data released by the country’s government. This offers.
That drew rebuke from other backing allies, especially in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The US ambassador to Luxembourg, Thomas M. Barrett, said: “The rapidly evolving security landscape forces us to find reasons to do more, rather than reasons that doing so would be difficult.” wrote in an op-ed last June.
But Luxembourg officials say it’s more complicated than that. Mr. Bausch said that even if the government decides to spend more money on supplying Ukraine’s military, there will not be enough people in his department to decide how to spend it quickly and without the risk of abuse. use.
And the problem of finding weapons to buy remained, as two internal arms dealers — both military officers who had deployed to conflict zones — were soon discovered.
In a wide-ranging interview this month in which they emphasized anonymity for security reasons, the pair described difficult, often frustrating negotiations with brokers. trade, cold calls with manufacturers and even a Google search to track down weapons Ukraine says it needs.
Ammunition is always on the important list, but sometimes the hunt for it leads to a dead end. Sometimes prices have been inflated. In other cases, they said, other buyers – including other allied nations – seized the opportunity before they were able to close the deal.
And then there was the case of the BM-21 Grad missile, which was in short supply due to production limitations. All was not lost, however, as arms dealers in Luxembourg quickly contracted the same Czech manufacturer to purchase ammunition of both NATO and Soviet-era calibers, to be delivered at the end of the season. this spring. The manufacturer, whose agents requested anonymity for security reasons, also sold them 12,500 RPG-7 anti-tank grenades, a Soviet version of the weapon; they were shipped to Ukraine during the first few months of the war.
Dealers say there is little opportunity to negotiate prices, given the high demand for weapons. And, if all goes well, which is far from guaranteed, it will take at least two weeks to vet the sale, draft the contract and pass the necessary approvals.
So far, they say, they have not bought from countries in Africa, East Asia, the Middle East and South America, countries awash with Soviet-era weapons, out of concern that the weapons might be too old to function. dynamic or about potential. demand bribe.
Camille Grand, who until last year was NATO’s defense investment officer, said Luxembourg’s efforts were an interesting example of how countries are quietly working to continue arming gas for Ukraine despite dwindling stockpiles, production shortfalls, and protracted budgets.
“It’s a kind of matchmaking between people with money and people with a little bit of ability,” Grand said.
