The fears of the American Ministry of Defense are caused, in particular, by the transfer of secret technologies.
The US Air Force has offered to transfer Reaper drones to Ukraine, but the Pentagon doubts whether it should be done.
As Politico reports with reference to its sources, such a proposal from the Ukrainian Air Force came five months after the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. However, the Pentagon has still not decided whether to provide these UAVs to Ukraine.
The publication notes that fears in the American Ministry of Defense are caused by the transfer of secret technologies and the fact that some of these drones will almost certainly be shot down. Sources of journalists note that “the situation is almost deadlocked”.
According to one of Politico’s interlocutors, this position of the Pentagon disappointed the Ukrainian side. He also added that Ukraine promises its partners to use drones to launch strikes only against Russian positions on the territory of Ukraine, and to share information about potential targets with the US immediately before launching strikes.
In addition, the executives of General Atomics, which produces these UAVs, have been in contact with Ukrainian officials for several months, trying to reach an agreement on the transfer of technology that would meet the rules and requirements of the American side.
It is noted that the US Air Force has been trying for years to write off older versions of Reaper drones in order to find money to acquire and operate modern technology. At the same time, the American Congress rejected such a proposal every time.
Reaper drones
Reaper drones are the US military’s primary strike drone. It can reach a speed of up to 482 km/h, and the maximum flight height is 15.4 km. In addition, the duration of the flight is up to 27 hours.
These UAVs can be used with a fairly powerful arsenal of ammunition. First of all, it can be equipped with high-precision AGM-114 Hellfire missiles (up to 8).
For “serious” purposes, you can use 230-kg high-precision bombs, or with laser guidance – GBU-12 Paveway II, or GPS-type JDAM.
