Thomas C. Theiner Profile picture
Sep 27 21 tweets 6 min read
Pentagon budget realignment files are a magnificent source of info about what the US military is up to, what classified programs US Special Operations Command runs in Ukraine, and what equipment has been sent to Ukraine.

Let's dive in - a thread 🧵:
1/n
These Pentagon papers include all items the Pentagon ordered to replace equipment sent to Ukraine up to 12 August 2022.

I.e the Pentagon ordered:
• $1,381,308,000 of Javelins and $73,123,000 of Javelin Command Launch Units (CLU) to replace the Javs sent to Ukraine.
2/n
• $808,811,000 of Stingers. Interestingly $505,054,000 worth of the Stingers are for the Marine Corps, which hasn't ordered Stingers since 2005.
• $31,136,000 M777 howitzer spare parts have been ordered to replace the spares sent by the Marines to Ukraine
3/n
Speaking of M777 howitzers:
• $237,188,000 of M795 projectiles have been ordered and $92,108,000 of M982 Excalibur projectiles
• $396,944,000 are being spent on M232A1 propelling charges, various fuzes, and M82 primers
• $1,698,000 for EPIAFS fuze setters to set Excaliburs
4/n
Even more interesting - the Pentagon spends:
• $10,000,000 to increase 155mm ammo production at the existing plant
• $200,000,000 for a new M795 metal parts plant
• $30,000,000 for a new M795 load, assemble and pack plant
• $265,850,000 for a new propelling charges plant
5/n
• $33,000,000 to increase M739A1 fuze production
• $7,000,000 to increase M82 primer production
• $8,000,000 for 155mm production line spare parts
• $30,000,000 for a dedicated XM1113 and XM1210 production line to speed up introduction of these new projectiles
6/n
Staying with artillery:
• $298,000,000 for counter battery radars (and $53,000,000 for AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel air-defense radars)

To replace M777 howitzer towing trucks and ammo transporting trucks the Pentagon ordered:
• $74,267,000 worth of FMTV
• $13,361,000 worth of FHTV
7/n
Now let's have a look at everyone's favorite American icon - the M142 HIMARS. The Pentagon ordered $399,913,000 worth of M142 HIMARS launchers. That's at least 100 launchers... but in the Pentagon papers one can find a hint that the Army is replacing its M777 with M142.
8/n
Until 12 August the Pentagon ordered $139,599,000 of GMLRS rockets. According to these Pentagon papers M31A2 rockets cost $774,750 per pod of six... so we can assume (with a margin of error) that Ukraine received around 180 pods with 1,080 rockets in July.
9/n
And the Pentagon is also increasing M142 and GMLRS production:
• $77,000,000 to procure long lead items for GMLRS
• $44,000,000 to shorten GMLRS production times
• $71,500,000 to increase M142 HIMARS production

10/n
Other interesting info in the ammo section:
• $30,913,000 for 7.62mm machine gun ammo
• $74,750,000 for .50 machine gun ammo
• $72,415,000 for 40mm grenades for Mk 19 automatic grenade launchers ($12,094,000) and M320A1 grenade launchers ($5,268,000)
11/n
• $26,832,000 for AT-4 anti-tank rockets
• $19,115,000 for M72 LAW
• $47,323,000 for a non defined "shoulder launched munition" (I have no clue what that could be)

The ammo section has just small amounts for hand grenades ($3,618,000) and mines ($1,635,000) - either the
12/n
US Army has enough of these or Europeans deliver most of the stuff here.

Mortar ammo orders are also rather small:
• $11,204,000 for 60mm ammo
• $11,308,000 for 81mm ammo

But a lot of body armor, helmets etc. have been ordered: $321,068,000
13/n
Other interesting stuff:

• $867,020,000 for Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) to free up M113 for Ukraine
• $77,508,000 to replace "small, medium, and large assault craft" for the US Navy

But now comes the REALLY juicy stuff!
14/n
• $50,000,000 for a program "to integrate design features that enhance interoperability of systems [identified for possible future export] with those of friendly foreign countries"

Likely this program includes stuff like the AGM-88 HARM on Ukrainian Mig-29 integration.
15/n
Air-defense missiles:
• $74,264,000 for 78 AIM-120D for the Navy
• $112,348,000 for 118 AIM-120D for the Air Force

which makes sense as the US needs to replace the AIM-120 that will be sent to Ukraine with the NASAMS 3 systems, but the Pentagon also ordered
16/n
• $288,491,000 for 76 Patriot PAC-3 MSE missiles

Either these are for the US Patriot battalions in Poland or they are the first sign of US Lend-Lease for Ukraine.

Also in the Pentagon papers is a $3 million funding for an undefined classified program... and

17/n
$9,123,000 for two "Military Intelligence Programs" run by the US Special Operations Command for a "classified requirement".
Where these programs are taking place - I don't know. What these programs are about - I don't know.

18/n
But as the funding for these two is listed in a publicly accessible Pentagon document I assume they are not classified as "secret" and therefore more likely something like "training Ukrainian Special Forces", rather than something like "ISTAR behind russian lines".
19/n
There are also dozens of entries for the funding of US forces deployed to Europe, but I believe what the US has sent to Ukraine and is now backordering to be more interesting.
As the @DeptofDefense released the last file on 12 August I am looking forward to the next one,
20/n
as that will have more GMLRS ammo, 105mm ammo, likely HARM backorders, and I am sure a lot of unexpected stuff.

21/end

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Thomas C. Theiner

Thomas C. Theiner Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @noclador

Sep 25
A military needs to have the right mix between equipment (capability), numbers (capacity), and readiness (i.e. training) to achieve battlefield success.

Ukraine's military has the numbers and readiness - but it still lacks equipment. It is extremely defeatist and dangerous
1/4
that Western nations won't deliver all the requested kit to Ukraine: air defense, fighter jets, main battle tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry fighting vehicles, Patriot, etc.

The longer the West dithers, the more putin is encouraged to prolong this war by throwing
2/4
the maximum numbers of bodies at Ukraine, even though his forces have neither the kit nor training to win against the Ukrainian troops.

Sending Ukraine every piece of kit they asked for, even if that means a reduction in capability and readiness of Western militaries is the
3/4
Read 4 tweets
Sep 21
Why are russian propagandists and the Kremlin so afraid of ATACMS missiles... is it a fear of striking deep into russia? is it a fear of striking symbolic targets?

No, it's all about logistics. A thread 🧵:

1/n
russian military logistics are a disaster: no forklifts, no pallets, too few trucks, bad maintenance, corruption, incompetence, no movement control units - without access to a railroad russia can't supply its troops.

For more about this topic - see:


2/n
The only way for russia to somehow keep its logistics alive are railroads. For russia no access to a railroad equals failure of an operation:

attack towards Kyiv from the East - no railroad = no supplies, troops starving, tanks without fuel, no ammo - disaster, then retreat.
3/n
Read 25 tweets
Sep 18
Now that Ukraine has received 4x self-propelled howitzers, let's do a quick comparison of:

• M109A3GN (photo), M109A4BE, M109A5Ö
• Zuzana 2
• AHS Krab
• PzH 2000

1/n ImageImageImageImage
The three M109 variants:
• M109A3GN modernized & donated by Norway
• M109A4BE modernized by Belgium & donated by the UK
• M109A5Ö modernized by Austria & donated by Latvia (photo)

have a 39 caliber barrel and thus an 18 liter charge chamber, which can hold max.
2/n Image
five M232A1 charges. This results in a maximum range of 24 km with boat tail projectiles and 30 km with base bleed projectiles.

Being the oldest design the M109 require manual projectile loading, manual projectile ramming, manual charge loading, manual primer loading.

3/n
Read 14 tweets
Sep 17
I quick guide to distinguish the three M109 variants donated to Ukraine so far:

🇳🇴 Norwegian M109A3GN:

• Blue circle: circular muzzle brake
• Red circle: curved stowage box
• Yellow: square stowage box unaligned with the turret

1/4 Image
🇦🇹🇱🇻 Austrian M109A5Ö donated by Latvia:

• Blue circle: elliptical muzzle brake
• Red circle: smoke grenade launchers
• Yellow: square stowage box aligned with the turret

2/4 Image
The two can also be distinguished by the form of the breech:

Left: Norwegian square breechblock in the M109A3GN
Right: classic M109 round breechblock in the Austrian M109A5Ö

3/4 ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Sep 15
Today Italy's Army releases its vision for its future.

In it I found this image of the "battlespace of the future". I added the names of some of the systems the army says its needs in the future, only two of which the army doesn't posses:
• 🇹🇷Bayraktar TB2
• 🇮🇱IAI Harop

1/4 Image
These two systems devastated the Armenian Army in 2020.

Other interesting points:
• more, and more modern tanks and armored vehicles, and a national mass production capability for them
• massed C-RAM and C-UAS systems
• deep strike capability with ER-GMLRS, combat drones,
2/4 Image
loitering munitions, and Vulcano ammunition
• new AW249 attack helicopter, AW169 light utility helicopter, and also American Future Vertical Lift helicopters
• ballistic missile defense, more SAMP/T air defense systems, and introduction of Grifo SHORAD air defense systems
3/4 Image
Read 4 tweets
Sep 11
A little map of the situation in Northern Luhansk after the rout of the russian invaders from Kharkiv Oblast.

Black 1 = the Oskil River frontline russia tries to establish.
Red 2s = the russian units retreating - those fleeing from Northern Kharkiv are on exterior lines and
1/n Image
therefore need much more time to reach the Oskil River, than the decimated russian units that fled from Izyum over the Oskil dam. However those russian units lost much of their equipment and vehicles, and all their ammo stores, so they are in no shape to defend a new
2/n
Oskil frontline.
Purple 3s = are the two bridges on the last railway in Northern Luhansk the russians control.
Until Ukraine liberated Kupiansk russian logistics moved from Valuyki to Kupiansk, Svatove and Rubizhne (cities in purple squares). Once Ukraine HIMARSes the two
3/n Image
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(