On June 23, 2022, US President Joe Biden signed documents on the provision of another new package of military assistance to Ukraine totaling $ 450 million and including military equipment from the presence of the US Department of Defense. Thus, the total amount of US military aid officially allocated to Kiev since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 now reaches $6.05 billion.
35-foot SURC (Small Unit Riverine Craft) type riverboat of the US Marine Corps on patrol of Lake Quadsia in Iraq in 2008 (with) Seth Maggard / US Navy
According to the official information of the US Department of Defense, the new package of military assistance to Ukraine includes (also statements here and here ):
- four combat vehicles of the M142 HIMARS missile system (in addition to the four allocated earlier);
- 36,000 artillery rounds of 105 mm caliber (for 105 mm towed guns L118/L119 transferred by Great Britain to Ukraine);
- 18 truck tractors for 155 mm towed howitzers M777;
- 1200 machine-made anti-personnel automatic grenade launchers Mk 19 caliber 40 mm;
- 2000 12.7 mm machine guns;
- 18 small coastal and river boats - two 35-foot river boats of the SURC type (Small Unit Riverine Craft), ten 34-foot small patrol boats of the Sea Ark Dauntless type and six 40-foot marine small patrol boats.
- various equipment and spare parts.
Regarding the transferred boats, it is worth saying that the 12-meter SURC-type boats built by SAFE Boats are standard US Marine Corps and Navy boats used on rivers. They have a design in the form of an aluminum body with foam floats and with a full displacement of 10 tons can accommodate up to 20 people. The boats are equipped with two Yanmar 6LY2A-STP diesel engines with a capacity of 440 hp at 3300 rpm with two Hamilton HJ292 water cannons and reach speeds of up to 40 knots. Cruising range up to 250 miles at a speed of 35 knots. They have three installations for 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine guns or Mk 19 grenade launchers. The boats are transported on special car trailers. Boats of this type were transferred to Iraq and the Philippines.
11-meter aluminum boats of the Sea Ark Dauntless type manufactured by U.S. Watercraft are standard boats of the U.S. Navy for the protection of naval bases and ensuring the actions of the PDSS. For 2021, there were 117 units, but from 2022, the process of replacing them with 40-foot boats of a new type should begin, as a result of which Sea Ark Dauntless type boats are subject to write-off. The 34-foot Sea Ark Dauntless type boats are capable of taking seven people on board and are equipped with two engines with a total capacity of 850 hp with those two Hamilton HJ292 water cannons and reach speeds of up to 45 knots.
Apparently, the six 40-foot boats intended for delivery to Ukraine are the same 40-foot (actual length 13.3 m) Defiant type boats of Metal Shark company ordered by the US Navy to replace the 34-foot Sea Ark Dauntless type boats under the RV(X) program. In total, the US Navy planned to purchase 120 40-foot boats of the Defiant type within 10 years, of which the first two were delivered by the beginning of 2021, and 54 more were ordered. Boats of the Defiant type can reach speeds of up to 40 knots, but have ballistic protection, better seaworthiness and more powerful weapons.
A representative of the US Department of Defense said at a briefing on June 24 that the 18 small boats transferred to Ukraine are intended "mainly to protect river routes and so that Ukraine can maintain control over river routes. They can also be used... in the nearby coastal areas, but, as I believe, the initial impetus for this - for this particular request - was a section of the river."
Regarding the HIMARS missile systems being transferred to Ukraine, the same representative of the US Department of Defense said that the first four HIMARS combat vehicles "are already in Ukraine," and the four combat vehicles allocated in the June 23 package will arrive "in mid-July."
34-foot small patrol boats of the type Sea Ark Dauntless US Navy (c) US Navy
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One of the prototypes of the new 40-foot small patrol boat type Defiant company Metal Shark, built for the U.S. Navy (c) Metal Shark
