The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Friday approximately $400 million in additional security assistance for Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which includes Guardian vehicles.
The DoD said in a release that this USAI package underscores the continued U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine by meeting their most urgent needs, while also building the capacity of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to defend its sovereignty over the long term.
Also noted is that this announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine including funding to refurbish 250 Guardian M1117 Armored Security Vehicles.
The Guardian is a lightly armored, all-wheel drive vehicle developed by Textron Marine & Land Systems that provides ballistic protection for the military police crew members against various small arms and fragment threats.
The 30,000 lb. vehicle contains V-shaped armor, a turret system and is capable of seating up to four individuals with all of their combat gear. The powerpack arrangement includes a Cummins 6CTA8.3 engine of 260 horsepower driving the two axles and netting the vehicle an operational range of 440 miles and a road speed maximum of 63 miles per hour.
The Guardian entered service in 1999 in time to see combat service in Afghanistan and Iraq.