Pentagon to provide medium-range air defense systems to Ukraine

The Pentagon will provide two medium-range air defense systems to Ukraine, but the contracting process may take weeks or months, a senior defense official said Friday. 

The latest round of assistance to Ukraine, totaling $820 million, provides aid through a drawdown of current Defense Department stocks, as well as through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative Fund (USAI), which contracts weapons that the Pentagon will then send to Ukraine. 

Two National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) are included in the USAI package. The NASAMS are medium-range air defense systems capable of shooting down cruise missiles and aircraft and are also deployed around Washington, D.C., to defend the nation's capital.