British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, speaking in the British Parliament on July 21, 2022, announced the upcoming delivery of significant shipments of weapons and military equipment by the UK to Ukraine as military aid. The total amount of British gratuitous military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian special military operation on February 24 will thus reach 2.3 billion pounds.
Training by British instructors of Ukrainian army servicemen to shoot from the British 105 mm light towed L119 cannon at the Salisbury training ground, June 2022 (c) Tim Merry / Daily Express
According to Wallace's statement, Ukraine should be supplied with "more than 20" self-propelled howitzers M109 caliber 155 mm, 36 light towed guns L119 caliber 105 mm, "more than 1600 anti-tank weapons", anti-battery radar systems, more than 50,000 pieces of ammunition for the current Ukrainian artillery Soviet samples, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, "including hundreds of barrage ammunition."
In the future, according to Wallace's statements, it is planned to supply Ukraine with "even more advanced air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and innovative new electronic warfare equipment."
According to Wallace's report, by now the UK has already transferred 6,900 units of NLAW, Javelin, Brimstone and other anti-tank weapons, separately mentioned Brimstone naval missiles, MLRS multiple launch rocket systems [apparently three], 16,000 artillery rounds, six Stormer combat vehicles of the Starstreak self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system and hundreds of guided missiles to Ukraine as military assistance [it means anti-aircraft], 120 armored combat vehicles, as well as a large number of non-combat equipment, including more than 82,000 protective helmets, 8450 sets of body armor and more than 5,000 night vision devices.
From the bmpd side, we point out that the "more than 20" M109 self-propelled howitzers mentioned by Wallace, planned for transfer to Ukraine, are apparently former upgraded 155 mm/39 self-propelled howitzers M109A4BE of the Belgian army, bought by the British side specifically for transfer to Ukraine from the Belgian private company OIP (formerly Sabiex International) and undergoing repair in the UK. In 2012, all 108 upgraded M109A4BE self-propelled guns were decommissioned in Belgium and later sold by the government to Belgian companies FTS (64 self-propelled guns) and OIP (apparently, the remaining 44), who tried to sell them on the world market - FTS as a result sold 36 systems to Indonesia in 2016, and OIP in 2018 - 18 installations in the USA (apparently also for re-export). It was reported that in April, the Belgian authorities wanted to buy the remaining M109A4BE ACS back from OIP for delivery to Ukraine, but they did not agree on the price, and in May these systems were bought from the company for subsequent transfer to Ukraine by the British government (in theory, OIP should have had 26 of them).
The 105-mm L119 cannon is a variant of the famous British light 105-mm towed L118 cannon made for standard American M1 ammunition. It should be noted that it is unclear where the UK will get 36 L119 cannons to send to Ukraine, since, according to known data, the British army had no more than 16 L119 modification guns used only in for educational purposes and decommissioned around 2005. It can be assumed that L119 guns are actually provided by Australia and New Zealand for the transfer to Ukraine.
