Free Republic

VIENTIANE, Laos — Women and racial diversity are vital to the strength of U.S. armed forces, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in an exclusive interview with NBC News as he prepares to shortly exit the top military post after four years. “I have spent 41 years in uniform, three long tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and everywhere I went on a battlefield, there were women in our formation,” Austin said. “I would tell you that, you know, our women are the finest troops in the world. Quite frankly, some of the finest in the world.” President-elect Donald Trump’s...

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv early Monday morning, as the future of US aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance of the imminent US presidential election and as Russia continues to make small but steady gains on the battlefield. Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov while in Kyiv to discuss Ukraine’s weapons needs and how the US can continue to support the country’s military over the next year, the secretary told a small group of reporters traveling with him to Kyiv on Sunday night. The secretary’s visit will also serve as...

@RepMattGaetz @SenMullin is trying to encourage Republicans to sign a DISCHARGE PETITION with Democrats to force the Senate’s “Ukraine First” bill forward! He didn’t have the guts to vote for it in the Senate but wants the House to pass it. I will stand with @SpeakerJohnson to STOP this terrible unpaid-for $95 billion aid bill.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Congress on Tuesday during a private briefing that if they do not pass more aid to Ukraine, it would “very likely” lead to U.S. troops fighting a war in Europe.

Although Raytheon is producing 400 Javelins per month with Lockheed Martin as a manufacturing partner, he said, the ongoing fighting in Ukraine has burned through existing weapons stocks.“The problem is we have consumed so much supply in the first ten months of the war,” he said. “We’ve essentially used up 13 years’ worth of Stinger production and five years’ worth of Javelin production.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday morning that the United States will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” a day after the U.S. announced another multibillion-dollar assistance package for the country. The U.S. announced late Thursday evening that it has approved another military aid package to Ukraine for $2.5 billion dollars, bringing up total U.S. military assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of 2021 to $27.5 billion. The U.S. announcement called it “significant” and “unprecedented.” So far, the U.S. has allocated more than $100 billion in aid since the conflict began in February 2022.

The Biden administration has been hesitant to send the drone to Ukraine amid fears that sensitive technologies may end up in Russian hands. What's happening: A group of 16 bipartisan senators, led by Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), is urging Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to answer a series of questions on transferring the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, since the armed drone is Ukraine’s “highest priority” military transfer request. The Biden administration considered transferring the MQ-1C for the last several months across 24 assistance packages. During that time, Russia has started using Iranian TB-2 drones, and the technology is threatening...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced another $1 billion in military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday, following the third meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a group of about 50 nations supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia. “I’m especially pleased to be able to announce today that the United States will provide an additional $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine,” Austin said at a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, where the members of the group met.