Defense is a major industry in Alabama. 168,439 Alabamians work for defense contractors.
Boeing builds Patriot missile components in Huntsville, the Lancer missile is made in a plant near Troy, parts for the Hydra-70 rocket are made at plants in Anniston and Huntsville. Parts for the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle are made in Anniston.
Alabamians build missiles, rockets, planes, helicopters, drones and more to supply the U.S. military and allies. All told, Alabama is on the front lines of security here at home and across the globe.
RELATED: Defense industry provides 264K jobs with $50.3B impact on state
Since the war began, the United States has directed more than $100 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support.
According to one analysis, of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans.
Marc A. Thiessen pointed this out in a recent Washington Post editorial. He and his American Enterprise Institute colleagues Clara Keuss and Noah Burke catalogued the weapons systems being produced in the United States for Ukraine. They identified 117 production lines in at least 31 states where American workers are producing major weapons systems for Ukraine.
Their analysis found that Alabama is among the top states on the receiving end of aid money.
RELATED: Alabama-made Javelin missiles arrive in Ukraine
“Our aid to Ukraine is not only forcing the Pentagon to rapidly increase the United States’ ability to produce weapons; it’s also modernizing the U.S. military,” they wrote.
“As retired Army Maj. Gen. John G. Ferrari, now a colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, recently pointed out, we are giving Ukraine weapons systems that are often decades old and then replacing our stockpiles with more advanced versions.”
Congress is expected to continue debating further aid for Ukraine in the coming days. According to Reuters, “By mid-November, the U.S. Defense Department had used 97% of $62.3 billion in supplemental funding it had received and the State Department had used all of the $4.7 billion in military assistance funding it had been allocated.”
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