Quote:
Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist
That would be the case if the US gave everything they could until production was ramped up, but it took months for each item to finally be approved. Months of "we don't want to escalate" followed by finally approving in a slow piecemeal fashion. It took 4 months for the US to finally say ok to HIMARS. Tanks were a no until UK just said we'll do it. The US could've given all that stuff from the start as they still haven't replaced what they gave earlier. Both Europe and the US did not start ramping up artillery production until a few months ago. F-16s were "absolutely not" until last week.
Yes they need to have enough materiel for readiness, but that hasn't prevented them from what they have given. Why was it all approved so slowly?
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Because it was unclear Ukraine would be able to fight so well and that Russia would be so dumb. The concern at the beginning had to be, 'we can't give Ukraine a bunch of stuff that will just fall into Russia's hands in three weeks.' Crappy for Ukraine, but totally prudent from America's perspective.