Inside the Race to Arm Ukraine Before Its Counteroffensive
Programming note: While Phil is busy today working on other projects, the D.C. Brief is highlighting a new, deeply reported story out of TIME's Washington bureau from W.J. Hennigan.
Squinting at his computer screen through wire-rimmed glasses, Greg Hartl monitors an unmarked 18-wheeler as it cuts through the American heartland. Data from the truck’s satellite tracking devices stream into his windowless command center at Scott Air Force Base, about 20 miles east of St. Louis, showing Hartl each stop the driver makes and the weather and road conditions ahead. Most important, as the driver navigates rush-hour traffic and stretches of interstate alongside unknowing travelers, Hartl can track the condition of the volatile cargo: hundreds of high-explosive 155-mm artillery shells bound for Ukraine.
The race to supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win the war against Russia unfolds on Hartl’s glowing screen at U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) headquarters. As a branch chief with the Army’s Defense Transportation Tracking System, he watches each day as scores of trucks crisscross American highways, hauling antitank missiles, rocket launchers, air-defense systems, and artillery shells to air and naval bases.
Nothing quite like this ever has taken place before. For the first time, a country that’s outmanned and outgunned by a much larger invading foe is being openly armed and trained almost entirely by its allies. The Pentagon says the Ukraine supply mission is the largest authorized transfer of arms in history from the U.S. military to a foreign nation. More than 1,400 trucks, 230 planes, and 11 cargo ships ferried arms to Ukraine in the first four months of this year alone.
The price tag for delivering it is staggeringly high. U.S. taxpayers have spent $35.4 billion on security aid for Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022—more than $3 million per hour.
To understand how the U.S. and its allies are delivering this arsenal, TIME spent months speaking with dozens of people in the U.S. and Europe involved in planning, manufacturing, and distributing military aid for Ukraine. Those conversations, as well as visits to three states and three countries to observe different elements of the effort, revealed an operation that has overcome many of the challenges posed by supply-chain issues, diminished manufacturing capabilities, and international logistics to get Ukraine what it needs. But it remains an open question whether the mission can be executed quickly enough to ensure success on the battlefield.
Click here to read the full story.
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