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In response to
"Germany’s Chancellor Has ‘a Lot’ for Ukraine. But No Battle Tanks."
by
crash davis
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NATO members will hold an ‘extraordinary meeting’ on weapons production.
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WASHINGTON — Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, has called for a special meeting of arms directors of the alliance on Tuesday to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and ways to replenish the stockpiles of member nations that have supplied Ukraine with weapons, an official at the organization said.
The discussions will help lay a foundation for a meeting of NATO defense ministers in October, the official said.
Arms directors from alliance members meet regularly, but the conclave scheduled for Tuesday in Brussels is one of a series of what NATO officials call “extraordinary meetings” that have taken place in the seven months since Russia invaded Ukraine.
And on Wednesday, arms directors from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group are scheduled to meet, said the NATO official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the planning. The group is made up of about 50 nations that have promised to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. Early this month, Lloyd J. Austin III, the U.S. defense secretary, and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led a meeting of the group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The aim of the meeting on Wednesday is to look at ways to further support Ukraine with ammunition and equipment deliveries, the official said. The U.S. government will host the meeting in Brussels.
Ukrainian officials have been asking the Biden administration for weapons that have longer ranges than the 16 mobile rocket platforms known as HIMARS that they have already been given.
Mr. Stoltenberg said in an interview with The New York Times last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that NATO member nations needed to find ways to help bolster the industrial base that produces the weapons being used in Ukraine. Depleted arms stockpiles in individual nations, and expectations that the war in Ukraine will continue, made the discussions necessary, he said.
He added that countries needed to coordinate assessments of the types and quantities of weapons they should have in their stockpiles and place more orders with private companies, which would encourage the companies to start new production lines and increase their manufacturing capacity.
The Biden administration recently approved the sale of more than $1.1 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan, the latest of a half-dozen arms packages the administration has said it is sending to the island. The U.S. government’s drive to arm Taiwan against a potential Chinese invasion with weapons that are the same or similar to those being used in Ukraine adds to the need for a greater industrial base for weapons manufacturing.
— Edward Wong
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