Publicly Released: June 15, 2023
Objective
The objective of this audit was to determine whether the 7th Army Training Command (7th ATC) trained the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) to operate and maintain U.S.-provided advanced platforms, such as crew-served weapons or radar systems, that were approved for transfer to Ukraine in 2022.This report is the first in a series on the DoD’s training of the UAF. Subsequent products will discuss the DoD’s training of the UAF to operate and maintain the Patriot long-range air defense missile system and the DoD’s collective training of UAF brigades.
Background
From August 2021 through May 2023, the United States has provided $22 billion in defense articles and services to Ukraine through 39 presidential drawdowns. Presidential drawdowns allow the United States to deliver defense articles and services from DoD stocks to foreign countries and international organizations to respond to emergencies. Through presidential drawdowns, the United States has transferred equipment, such as military vehicles, artillery, and surveillance systems, to Ukraine. The presidential drawdowns also authorize the DoD to train the UAF on this equipment. We used the terms platform and platform training to refer to the equipment and training that we included in the scope of this report.
Finding
From April through December 2022, the 7th ATC facilitated training for UAF personnel on platforms approved for transfer to Ukraine. Specifically, the 7th ATC facilitated operational and maintenance training for 17 platforms, including howitzers, mortars, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. Based on our analysis of the training provided and platforms approved for transfer to Ukraine, we did not identify any instance when the 7th ATC did not provide UAF-requested operational or maintenance training.
We observed two classroom-based training events on artillery targeting and interviewed 7th ATC officials and a UAF liaison officer during visits to Grafenwoehr, Germany, in October and December 2022. We identified obtaining translated materials, such as technical manuals, for the platforms on which the UAF trained to operate and maintain as the biggest challenge that the 7th ATC faced in providing training. For example, 7th ATC officials explained that there was a backlog of technical manuals requiring translation because the presidential drawdowns had not approved the manuals for foreign disclosure.
The backlog of translated materials may have negatively impacted the training on some platforms. For example, UAF could not study technical manuals during their instruction if the manuals were not available in Ukrainian.
Recommendations
We are not making recommendations in this report; however, we will continue to analyze the DoD’s training of the UAF and measures the DoD takes to ensure its training is effective. We may recommend actions related to that analysis in a subsequent product in this series covering training of the UAF to operate and maintain the Patriot long-range air defense missile system and the DoD’s collective training of UAF brigades.
This report is the result of Project No. D2023-D000RH-0003.000.