It was not immediately clear whether President Biden or any of his top national security advisers approved the proposed transfer of the JDAMs to Ukraine. Those familiar with the matter, Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations, he did not say whether Ukrainian forces would deploy the kits on aircraft or ground weapons, or which specific systems in Ukraine’s arsenal would be candidates for such an increase.
The Ukrainian Air Force mostly relies on old Soviet-era MiG jets, and the Pentagon has sought ways to upgrade them, rather than providing newer Western aircraft that would require its pilots and maintenance units to undergo complicated retraining.
The Biden administration has already equipped Ukraine with other advanced weaponry, including high-speed air-launched anti-radiation missiles, or HARMs, to enhance Ukraine’s ability to carry out air strikes. But these weapons work differently than GPS-guided JDAM, instead hunting radiation given off by Russian units and headquarters.
The delivery of JDAMs would mark another significant step by Washington to help Ukraine repel the invading Russian force, providing a new way to target Russian units and headquarters. Since June, Ukraine has relied heavily on the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, another precision system, for significant casualties among Russian troops and disruption of supply lines, Ukrainian and US officials said.
The Kremlin reacted angrily to the outpouring of Western military aid, making thinly-veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and warning of the potential for a broader war with NATO. For that reason, the Biden administration has sought to tread cautiously in approving new resources that could be seen by Russia as escalators.
On Tuesday, senior US officials told The Washington Post that the Pentagon was also preparing to supply Ukraine with a Patriot missile system, the US military’s most sophisticated air defense weapon. Biden has yet to approve that change, but may soon do so, officials said.
Ukrainian leaders pleaded for help bolstering their air defenses as Russia launched a relentless assault on the country’s power grid, preventing much of the population from heating as the winter chill sets in. The delivery of a Patriot, which relies on radar and long-range missiles to intercept incoming threats, would fulfill one of Ukraine’s biggest and most frequent requests to Washington.
To date, the United States has committed about $20 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24.
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said on Monday that the administration was focused on “undermining any Russian effort” to gain an advantage in the war, and predicted that the United States would announce further arms transfers soon.