Ukraine acquires Sidewinder missiles in latest US support package

The consignment includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) ammunition, 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, mine clearing equipment, Javelin and other anti-armour systems, TOW missiles and rockets including Hydra-70 variants.

The latest round also includes more than 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, armoured medical treatment vehicles, high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, ambulances, obstacle clearing demolitions, spare parts, maintenance and field equipment.

“Every item that is decided and taken from the US stock and provided to the Ukrainians, the chairman (of the Joint Chiefs) and secretary (of defense) go through it, and they look exactly at what is the effect for readiness. If they think it’s any impact, negative on readiness, or increases risk … we won’t do it,” said US Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William A LaPlante.

“So, by definition, if it’s taken out of drawdown, the assessment’s been made (that) we can do it and we can manage the risk.”

The current US administration has committed more than $43 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, including more than 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, more than 10,000 Javelin anti-armour systems and more than 2 million 155-mm artillery rounds.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has also recently announced the country is moving to shore up domestic arms production.

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“There was a separate meeting on our Ukrainian arms production (between) the Ministry of Strategic Industries, Ukroboronprom, and heads of domestic production facilities,” he said.

“Artillery made in Ukraine; shells made in Ukraine; drones, missiles, armoured vehicles. We are maximising production capacity; Ukraine can do it, funding is available (and) our defence industry will yield better results.

“We have two tasks for the next meeting of the staff. The first is a report on preparations for the winter, various aspects including security.

“Second, a program of preparation for the use of new combat aircraft.

“Politically, everything has already been done; agreements have been reached. The key thing now is to prepare the infrastructure efficiently and quickly; this is already a military task.”

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.