Senators from both parties urge President JoeBiden to send armed drones to Ukraine
Sixteen senators signed a letter addressed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dated Tuesday urging the administration to send Ukraine the MQ-1C Gray Eagle armed drones, which are medium-altitude drones that can fly for over a day. The lawmakers said Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov and Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova “have repeatedly requested” thatthe U.S. provide them with these weapons.
This letter comes as Russia continues to use unmanned drones to target Ukraine’s critical infrastructure over the last couple of weeks. While there are some lulls, there have been days when dozens of drones were fired at targets across the country. Iran has provided hundreds of such drones to Russia, which they're relying on amid a significant depletion of their stockpiles, and they reportedly agreed to a deal that would allow Russia to begin manufacturing such aircraft on Russian soil.
The drones, which only require about a month of training and are made by General Atomics, would “increase Ukraine’s unmanned capabilities in the near-term and demands careful consideration,” the senators continued, stressing that this “system’s operational attributes — availability, lethality, survivability, and exportability — complement existing weapon systems used by the Ukrainians and will increase the lethality of the Ukrainian military.
The senators who signed the letter include Jim Inhofe , the outgoing ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joni Ernst , Tim Kaine , Joe Manchin , Mark Kelly , Kevin Cramer , Chuck Grassley , Richard Blumenthal , Lindsey Graham , Martin Heinrich , Michael Rounds , Thom Tillis , Shelley Moore Capito , John Hoeven , Susan Collins , and Jerry Moran .Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday that a decision hadn't been finalized.
"I would say that nothing has been decided. We are always assessing and evaluating what we can send to Ukraine. But in terms of the Gray Eagles, no decision has been made. We have to examine what impact it would have on us and specifically for the [U.S. Army], but nothing has been ruled out," she explained.
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