The United States and a handful of its NATO allies are delivering military aid to Ukraine,
including weapons that member countries hope will deter or blunt a possible Russian invasion.
On Wednesday, the Biden Administration announced it would send $200 million in military aid
to Ukraine and greenlit a plan for the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to
ship American-built arms there.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom delivered 2,000 NLAW short-range anti-tank weapons to Ukrainian
military forces.
However, those arms are a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the former Soviet
state would need to stand up to its neighbor.
Although the United States and NATO have ruled out direct military deployments to Ukraine,
it seems likely the alliance will send more equipment.
The weapons would ideally neutralize Russia's strengths while exploiting its weaknesses.
Russia's nearly 100 battalion tactical groups are heavily mechanized, and tanks and infantry
fighting vehicles would spearhead any major assault on Ukraine.
Another key strength is artillery, which Moscow could use to pummel Ukrainian defenders before
a ground assault.
Finally, if Russia wins and forces Kyiv's armies and militias underground, they'd need
guerrilla weapons to bleed their occupiers white.
So if the United States does open up the Arsenal of Democracy, providing even more support,
which weapons should Kiev have on its wishlist?
1.
AGM-148 Javelin Anti-Tank Missiles
The United States has already sent Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, but it could
use many, many more.
Javelin is an older missile, but it's still highly effective against tanks.
Plus, its range of 2,500 meters would allow Ukrainian units to defend five kilometers
of the front (more than three miles) at a time.
The U.S. previously sold Ukraine 47 command launch units (CLUs) and 370 actual missiles.
Ukraine has barely enough Javelins to equip an army brigade; it has nearly 30 brigades
as well as an assortment of smaller units, reservists, and special operations forces.
Fully outfitting the Ukrainian Ground Forces with Javelins would require something on the
order of 1,500 CLUs and 5,000 or more missiles.
2.
M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)
HIMARS is a rocket artillery system that consists of six 227-millimeter rocket tubes on a truck
chassis, making for a highly mobile, yet powerful artillery system.
HIMARS can launch the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), a GPS-guided rocket
with a high explosive warhead.
"(Ukraine) already has a lot of cannon artillery," Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine Corps
officer and analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies,
tells Popular Mechanics.
"Precision missiles would be very useful."
Ukrainian units could use a HIMARS/GMLRS combo to target Russian Army units far behind the
front lines, showering headquarters units, fuel dumps, air defenses, and artillery with
precision-guided rockets.
A range of 43 miles would undermine the morale of Russian forces far from the front lines
and allow Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia itself.
3.
FIM-92 Stinger Missile
The Stinger missile is a short-range, man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS).
The shoulder-fired missile weighs 33.5 pounds, has a range of 2.98 miles, and uses an infrared
seeker to home in on the heat emissions of low-flying aircraft.
"The Ukrainians are very vulnerable from the air," Cancian explains, "and their air force
is weak."
Stinger missiles would be particularly useful in negating Russia's advantage in helicopters,
both Mi-8/17 transport helicopters and Ka-52 attack helicopters.
These helicopters would be used to transport air assault troops to landing zones 200 or
more miles behind enemy lines, as well as to provide close air support to Russian ground
units and to hunt Ukrainian tanks.
Stingers would also be useful against the Russian Army's fleet of 500 drones, including
the Orlan-10, a medium-range drone used to locate targets for Russian artillery.
4.
AN/PVS-15 Night Vision Goggles
The AN/PVS-15 is a helmet-mounted binocular night vision device, giving the user stereoscopic
night vision with a 40-degree field of view.
"Night vision goggles are very helpful for infantry combat in close quarters like the
WWI style front lines seen in Ukraine," Cancian says.
The AN/PVS-15, or something like it, would improve the Ukrainian ground forces' ability
to fight at night.
They would also be very useful to insurgents and special forces operating behind Russian
lines, allowing them to fight rear-area Russian ground forces troops forced to make do without
them.
5.
Improvised Explosive Devices
The United States spent nearly 20 years, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting adversaries
that used increasingly sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The devices—sometimes using explosives, including aircraft bombs and artillery shells,
and incorporating anti-tamper protection—were planted along roads and routes used by U.S.
forces and detonated underneath otherwise protected vehicles.
Russian forces occupying any part of Ukraine will similarly rely on the local road network,
and the deeper into the country they occupy, the more roads they will utilize.
A Ukrainian insurgency, powered by American know-how in IEDs, could extract a crippling
toll on Russian truck and security convoys.
American weapons sent to Ukraine must be easy to use, inexpensive, and hard for the Russians
to destroy.
An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter parked at a Ukrainian airfield would be the most powerful weapon
on either side, but easily destroyed on the ground.
However, $77 million in missiles, night vision goggles, and roadside bombs—the cost of
an F-35—would quickly filter out into the countryside, where they would be impossible
to destroy in one strike and steadily whittle away Russia's numerical advantage.