anti-tank weapons - Central News Hub

UK orders thousands more anti-tank weapons

Thousands of new anti-tank weapons will be assembled in Northern Ireland and delivered to the British Army, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced today (7 December).

A £229 million deal has been agreed with Swedish manufacturer Saab for Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon (NLAW) systems, which are assembled at Thales’ facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The UK has provided thousands of NLAWs to Ukraine to support the defence of their nation following Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion. With NLAW, a single soldier can take out a heavily protected modern main battle tank from 20 to 800 metres away.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said, “These next generation light anti-tank weapons have played a decisive role in supporting Ukraine’s army to drive back Russia’s illegal invading forces. Working with our first-class industry partners, we are continuing to fulfil our commitment to NATO by ensuring our Armed Forces will receive a steady supply of these weapons over the coming years, whilst supporting UK jobs across the length and breadth of the country. Secured through Defence Equipment and Support – the MOD’s procurement arm – today’s agreement will see several thousand units delivered to UK Armed Forces across 2024-2026, in addition to around 500 being delivered in 2023 through a separate procurement.”

NLAW is a shoulder-launched missile system that attacks a tank from above. It combines the simplicity of light anti-armour weapons with the advantages of heavy, crew-operated guided missile systems.

It is as a result of this agility, reliability and accuracy that the NLAW has been an important capability in Ukraine’s fight back against Russia’s illegal invasion, making up part of the 10,000 anti-tank weapons the UK has supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces.

The UK continues to be actively engaged with industry, allies and partners to ensure we can equip Ukraine with vital military support while replacing, at pace, equipment and munitions granted in kind from UK stocks.

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UK to supply anti-tank weapons to Ukraine

Russian and Belarusian troops are planning to hold large-scale military drills next month, including near Belarus’s border with Ukraine…reports Asian Lite News

Britain has begun supplying Ukraine with anti-tank weapons and Canada has reportedly deployed a small contingent of special forces to Kyiv amid concerns of a possible invasion by Russia.

The developments came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov angrily rejected claims by the United States last week that Moscow was preparing a pretext to invade Ukraine if diplomacy failed to meet its objectives.

While Moscow – which has deployed 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine – denies plans for an attack against Ukraine, it has said it could take unspecified military action unless the West agrees to a list of demands, including banning Kyiv from ever joining NATO.

Russia views NATO’s expansion eastwards as an existential threat.

But Washington and its allies have firmly rejected Moscow’s demands and Russia-US negotiations in Geneva and a related NATO-Russia meeting in Brussels ended last week without a breakthrough.

Kyiv has since asked Western countries for arms to help it protect itself.

Speaking in the British parliament on Monday, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK had “taken the decision to supply Ukraine with light anti-armour defensive weapon systems”.

The first weaponry was delivered on Monday and a small number of British personnel would provide training for a short period of time, he said, without specifying the number and type of weapons that were being sent.

But he added, “They are not strategic weapons and pose no threat to Russia. They are to use in self-defence.

“These are short-range …. but nevertheless it would make people pause and think what they were doing and if tanks were to roll into Ukraine, invade it, then they would be part of the defence mechanism.”

In a separate article published on Monday, Wallace also addressed Russian claims of threats from NATO, saying the Western security alliance is “to its core, defensive”.

“Former Soviet states have not been expanded ‘into’ by NATO, but joined at their own request,” he wrote. “The Kremlin attempts to present NATO as a Western plot to encroach upon its territory, but in reality, the growth in Alliance membership is the natural response of those states to its own malign activities and threats.”

In Kyiv, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed the UK’s support, saying in a Twitter post that his country “highly appreciates Britain’s decision to provide a new security package with light, anti-armour, defensive weapon systems!”

Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia could launch an attack on their country from various directions, including from the territory of its ally Belarus. Russian and Belarusian troops are planning to hold large-scale military drills next month, including near Belarus’s border with Ukraine.

Belarus Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich said on Monday that Russian troops had started arriving in the country for the exercise, according to the BELTA news agency.

Russia has denied having plans to attack its neighbour and instead accused the Ukrainian leadership of hatching plans to use force to reclaim control of the Russian-backed rebel-held territories in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have denied the claim.

Separately in Canada, Global News meanwhile reported that Ottawa had dispatched special forces operators to Ukraine.

Citing unspecified sources, the TV broadcaster said the unit will identify ways to assist the Ukrainian government and help develop evacuation plans for Canadian diplomatic personnel in the event of a full-scale invasion.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command said it could not confirm the report, but said it has supported the Ukrainian security forces on a periodic basis since autumn of 2020.

The report came as Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal in Kyiv on Monday during a visit aimed at discussing efforts to deter “aggressive actions” by Russia.

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