The White House has reportedly greenlit plans for US defense contractors to send their civilian employees to Ukraine to help maintain US-provided weaponry, according to unnamed Pentagon officials.
As the New York Times (NYT) reported on Thursday, the restrictions were lifted sometime this month. The contractors would work far from the front to help maintain and repair weapons such as F-16 fighters and Patriot air defense systems. They will not be engaged in combat.
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The NYT, citing an unnamed Pentagon official, said the Pentagon “is soliciting bids for a small number of contractors.” It added that the Biden administration aims to award the contract before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
The publication said it is unclear if the goal can be achieved as awarding contracts normally takes four to nine months.
It added that some US defense firms already have contractors in Ukraine to help fulfill contracts directly for the Ukrainian government.
The decision marked a significant shift in Washington’s policies.
In June, an unnamed official told CNN that talks to deploy US contractors were in place but no proposals were submitted to or agreed on by President Biden.
An official from within the administration told CNN at the time: “We have not made any decisions and any discussion of this is premature.” The executive also said at the time that Biden remained firmly against any suggestion of sending US troops to Ukraine.
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The US withdrew all its personnel involved in training or other support to Ukraine’s forces before Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Since then, Washington has taken great pains to make it clear that the US military and other official representatives, and US defense industry companies have no direct involvement in combat operations.
The result of US reticence is that if any of the military equipment that it provided sustains damage, it must be transported to Poland, Romania, or another NATO country for repair.
While US troops can help with routine maintenance procedures online that also comes with inherent limitations. The process in both circumstances takes time and resources and keeps vital weapons systems out of service for longer periods than if the work could be done by US defense industry experts onsite in Ukraine.
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