Axios: $5 billion in arms exports to NATO and Ukraine delayed by US shutdown

Exports of more than $5 billion worth of U.S. weapons intended to support NATO allies and Ukraine have been postponed due to the government shutdown in the United States, states media outlet Axios, citing data obtained by the US State Department.

Axios notes that the situation with gun sales is another example of the consequences of furloughs, program suspensions, and slowdowns in federal agencies as the shutdown has been going on for 40 days.

"This is actually really harming both our allies and partners and US industry to actually deliver a lot of these critical capabilities overseas," said an unnamed State Department official.

According to him, this affected the supply of weapons, including missiles AMRAAM, air defense systems Aegis and multiple launch rocket systems HIMARS (only the first and third of this list are transferred to Ukraine – Ed.), for such allies as Denmark, Croatia and Poland.

Although the final destination of arms exports is unknown, weapons sold to NATO countries are often transferred to help Ukraine, Axios points out.

The official added that the planned deals include both the sale of weapons directly from the US government to allies and the granting of arms export licenses to private US defense companies.

The process of such sales would normally be simple and not controversial.

The Arms Export Control Act requires Congress to review proposals for such sales. However, many State Department staffers whose job it is to inform the relevant parliamentary committee and ensure the process is completed have been furloughed, causing a slowdown, the media explains.

A senior official said that in October, the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs had only about a quarter of the usual staff dedicated to supporting arms sales.

The Ukrainian side has not yet commented on this data.

• In late October, the NATO secretary general announced that the first several billion dollars worth of weapons paid for by European allies had already sent from the USA to Ukraine.