Breaking Defense
December 15, 2022

US to provide advanced combined armed training to Ukraine

The United States will provide combined arms maneuver training to Ukraine geared at enabling the Ukrainian military to better conduct joint operations at the battalion level, the Pentagon announced today.

The new training course, which begins in January, will be led by 7th Army Training Command in Germany and teach about 500 Ukrainian troops per month, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters during a briefing.

The basic idea is to give Ukraine a more sophisticated level of training that incorporates some of the advanced Western equipment – such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) – it has obtained over the course of the war.

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After some introductory instruction in a classroom setting, students will move through live-fire training at the squad, platoon and company levels. The course – which will also provide headquarter staff training – will culminate at a battalion-level field exercise. It could also change over time to adjust to the Ukrainian military’s needs, Ryder said.

The Biden administration has provided more than $19.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since…February. On the training side, most of that aid has been spent on teaching Ukrainian troops how to operate Western equipment like HIMARS or NASAMS, with 3,100 troops moving through such training since April….

The announcement of the new training program comes days after reports that the Biden administration is finalizing plans to give Ukraine the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, with a public announcement that could occur as early as this week….