US President Donald Trump has announced the US will send “top-of-the-line weapons” to Ukraine via Nato countries, while also threatening Russia with severe tariffs if a deal to end the war is not reached within 50 days.
“We want to make sure Ukraine can do what it wants to do,” Trump said following a meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte in Washington.
Rutte confirmed the US had decided to “massively supply Ukraine with what is necessary through Nato” and that the Europeans would foot the bill.
European countries will send Kyiv their own Patriot air defence systems - which Ukraine relies on to repel Russia’s deadly air strikes - and replacements will then be issued by the US, Trump said.
For the record, MBDA has also stood up an assembly line for PAC-2 GEM-T missiles (amongst other things) in Schrobenhausen, Germany. So there’s at least an alternative supply line for that particular model. Yes I know the logistics are complicated and a lot of US components are still used, but worst comes to worst, I don’t think the EU would have too hard of a time finding regional alternatives if our government decides to pull the rug on technical support for that (which would have much greater and more far reaching implications than a single PAC-2 assembly line).