President Joe Biden (right) visited the Lockheed Martin Co facility where anti-tank Javelin missiles are being manufactured by Americans (Pictures: Reuters)
President Joe Biden visited a facility in Alabama manufacturing anti-tank Javelin missiles being sent to Ukraine and commended the US workers for helping make ‘fools of the Russian military’.
Biden toured the Lockheed Martin Co facility on Tuesday, in an effort to push Congress to approve a $33billion assistance package to Ukraine.
‘You’re allowing the Ukrainians to defend themselves and quite frankly, they’re making fools of the Russian military in many instances,’ Biden said from Troy, Alabama.
‘A big part of the reason they’ve been able to keep up fighting and to make this war a strategic failure for Russia is because the United States together with our allies and partners have had their back.’
Biden added: ‘You’re changing the nation. You really are.’
The facility manufactures thousands of Javelin anti-tank missile systems every year. The US and its allies have sent a combined 5,500 Javelins to Ukraine to fight off Russia’s invasion, according to the White House.
Ukrainians used Javelins to stop Russian tanks from advancing on Kyiv, and demand for them is high as the attack has moved to eastern Ukraine.
‘They’re asking for more obviously,’ Lockheed’s chief executive Jim Taiclet said of Ukraine on Friday, adding that the company is trying to boost Javelin production at its facility in Troy and other locations.
Biden said his administration is pushing to again be the leading producer of semiconductor chips required to make Javelins and other weapons.
‘This fight is not going to be cheap, but caving to aggression would be even more costly,’ Biden said.
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