XPost: alt.current-events.ukraine, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: or.politics, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://ktla.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-nato-signs-700-million-   
   stinger-missile-contract-as-it-makes-plans-to-boost-arms-production/   
      
   WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO countries are moving to shore up their weapons   
   production capabilities as a hedge against the November presidential vote,   
   signing a nearly $700 million contract for more Stinger missiles and   
   making pledges to boost their own defense production.   
      
   Ukraine, a partner that relies on military aid from the NATO members, is   
   opening a small office in Washington to strengthen its ties to the U.S.   
   defense industry. Regardless of whether President Joe Biden or former   
   President Donald Trump wins the U.S. election, the alliance and Ukraine   
   want to be in a better position to provide more of their own defense   
   needs.   
      
   The announcements came Tuesday at the start of the NATO summit in   
   Washington, where leaders were focused on the need both to support Ukraine   
   and to make sure the alliance is prepared for any future threats.   
      
   Before Russia’s 2022 invasion, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of   
   strategic industries, worked on his farm.   
      
   “I was a happy Ukrainian dealing with agriculture and knowing nothing   
   about military things,” Kamyshin said. Ukraine in 2021 produced no   
   ammunition and started the conflict with the stocks it had on the shelves,   
   he said.   
      
   That is quickly changing as Ukraine is developing a sophisticated drone   
   industry, producing more weapons domestically and working to more deeply   
   embed itself with defense companies in the U.S. and Europe.   
      
   “We are re-profiling ourselves from agricultural country to the arsenal of   
   a different world,” Kamyshin said.   
      
   Biden on Tuesday announced another major air defense package for Ukraine,   
   and outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the   
   alliance had signed the Stinger contract.   
      
   “There is no way to provide strong defense without a strong defense   
   industry,” Stoltenberg said while announcing the contract.   
      
   The Stinger is a portable surface-to-air defense system that can be   
   carried and fired by troops or mounted onto a vehicle and used as short-   
   range defense against aircraft.   
      
   The Raytheon-produced system was one of the first weapons the U.S. shipped   
   to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion. It is now among hundreds of types   
   of systems, and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, artillery and   
   missiles, that countries have pulled from their stockpiles to help   
   Ukraine. But the rapid push over the past two years exposed that defense   
   firms both in the U.S. and in Europe were not set to produce at the levels   
   needed in a major conventional war.   
      
   The NATO summit is occurring against a backdrop of uncertainty. U.S.   
   political divisions delayed weapons for Ukraine for months and the   
   upcoming presidential election is raising concern that U.S. backing — with   
   weapons and troops — in case of threats against member countries may not   
   always be guaranteed.   
      
   Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has boasted during campaign   
   speeches that he’d encourage Russia to do as it wished with NATO members   
   that do not meet their commitment to spend 2% of their gross domestic   
   product on defense.   
      
   Kamyshin, who spoke at a nighttime event Tuesday on the EU defense   
   industry, said growing Ukraine’s defense industry should put it in a   
   stronger position regardless of who wins the U.S. election.   
      
   “Defense industry should be strong regardless of the elections of the   
   parties,” Kamyshin said. “But I heard that the Republicans stand for   
   defense industry as well.”   
      
   It’s not just Ukraine. In both the U.S. and throughout Europe, some   
   defense production lines were stagnant at the time of the 2022 invasion   
   and are only now getting production numbers up. The buildup has been   
   dependent on getting new, longer-term contracts signed to support more   
   capital investment in the needed infrastructure.   
      
   “This is not about shifts or a bottleneck. It’s building new factories,”   
   said Morten Brandtzaeg, the chief executive officer of Nammo, a Norway-   
   based ammunition firm.   
      
   The war also spurred NATO members to increase the amount they spend on   
   defense.   
      
   Out of 32 NATO members, 23 are expected to meet the 2% commitment this   
   year, up from just six before Russia’s invasion. That’s seen as still not   
   enough, as Russia has leveraged the sheer size of its workforce to rapidly   
   replace weapons lost in the war.   
      
   “If you want to fight a war for a long time, you need to have an industry   
   behind you that has the capacity for a long time,” Brandtzaeg said.   
      
   Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said Russia is now spending an   
   estimated 7% to 9% of its GDP on defense. Estonia is spending more than 3%   
   of its GDP on defense, but needs to do more to refill its stockpiles,   
   Pevkur said.   
      
   Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as a   
   deputy prime minister, said his country will commit at least 4% of its GDP   
   to defense this year.   
      
   The war in Ukraine “exposed major weaknesses of Poland, of region and of   
   the world at large,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.   
      
   Since the invasion, the U.S. has provided more than $53.6 billion in   
   weapons and security assistance to Ukraine. This support, at a time when   
   the U.S. also is sending weapons to Israel and Taiwan, has strained the   
   U.S. stockpile. The rest of the NATO members and other international   
   partners have provided about $50 billion altogether in weapons and   
   security assistance, according to the Kiel Institute for the World   
   Economy, an independent research organization based in Germany.   
      
   National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that for the first   
   time ever, the NATO countries will each pledge to make plans to strengthen   
   their own industrial defense capacity. He said this would help the   
   alliance “prioritize production of the most vital defense equipment we   
   would need in the event of a conflict.”   
      
   The 32 members have widely varying defense industry sizes and   
   capabilities, so each country’s plan could vary widely, from partnering   
   with industry to partnering with other countries.   
      
      
      
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