Ukraine needs U.S. intelligence, precise munitions — Admiral Mark Montgomery

Mark Montgomery recently returned from another trip to Ukraine, where the retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral held several meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, and others, reports The D Brief. Montgomery is the Senior Director of the Center for Cyber and Technological Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington.

“They need two things from us. If they don’t get them, they will still survive, but the number of Ukrainian deaths will be much higher.”

Mark Montgomery told The D Brief about two critically important points: “First, constant intelligence support, especially for defense, but it will also help in offense. Second, specific ammunition that comes only from our defense-industrial base. Trump must allow Europeans or Ukrainians to buy them from us. Despite all European concerns, Europe does not produce any Patriots or ammunition for these systems. They don’t produce any AMRAAMs (AMRAAM - an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile and the latest US development). They don’t manufacture enough 155mm artillery shells. So Ukrainians will have to buy them from us with European money, frozen Russian assets, or Ukrainian funds.”

Mark Montgomery said, “I see they are conserving ammunition when it comes to countering ballistic and cruise missiles. What they are really working on is shooting down drones and cruise missiles using F-16s. The aircraft was designed for this. It’s fantastic. But what they really need is to avoid using AIM-9X missiles and cannons. It would be great if we provided them with a system called APKWS - something like a 2.75-inch rocket, similar to the old Zuni rockets, launched from a pod carried by the aircraft, with laser guidance. They are cheap - ranging from $10,000 to $20,000. It’s not a technological problem because we have already sold them to the Ukrainian army. Now we need to sell them to their air force; it’s quite affordable to shoot down a cruise missile, even cheaper than a Shahed.”

“I spent some time with the unit flying F-16s, and my impression is: our Air Force has done an excellent job training the Ukrainians,” the expert said. “These guys had never been familiar with the aircraft before, but they use its weapons systems and capabilities smartly and very well. We need to be creative and innovative and keep supporting the Ukrainians who are holding back the Russians. Their resilience will outlast the Russians. But the cost will be unbearable if we don’t provide intelligence support.”

Mark Montgomery highly praised Ukraine’s drone system development, saying “their drone industry is impressive.” He noted that the U.S. “would find it difficult to fully replicate it” because “they still use many Chinese components.” “Ukrainians are innovative in certain kinetic areas, some weapons systems, and ammunition. So the U.S., Ukraine, and possibly Taiwan will have great opportunities to create truly effective scalable weapons,” he said.

The retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and expert from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies also noted a troubling fact: global media recently pays significantly less attention to Ukraine. “Ukraine simply isn’t moving forward in terms of press coverage and international attention,” he said. “I’m shocked by the lack of press. I often visit Israel, I often visit Taiwan. Do you know how they covered the April or October attacks in Israel? That attack was a consolidated three- or four-day cycle - any three or four days in Ukraine look like that. And Ukrainians deal with it again and again, every three or four days. Yet we don’t cover it much, and they have to make hard choices about what to shoot down and what targets to hit in Russia.”

As one of the key factors in supporting Ukraine, the expert highlighted the work of the U.S. House of Representatives:

“I believe congressional support will be very important. I don’t see opposition within the administration; perhaps there’s just a lack of momentum. But senators can provide the push to get things moving - senators and representatives like Republican Don Bacon from Nebraska can get the process started, forcing the administration to take certain steps.”

“Ukrainians are not going to give up,” Montgomery sums up his recent visit to Ukraine. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I see no trend other than their resilience, persistence, and dedication. Honestly, they seem to me like a big middle finger to Putin.”