A group of 16 US senators, which includes representatives of both the Republican and Democratic parties, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking him to reconsider his decision not to provide Ukraine with modern UAVs MQ-1C Gray Eagle. According to the senators, these weapons will help Ukraine to keep its territory and gain an advantage on the battlefield. This is reported by Wall Street Journal.

“The long-term benefit of providing Ukraine with the MQ-1C is significant and has the potential to change the strategic course of the war in Ukraine’s favor,” US lawmakers note.

According to the senators, training the Ukrainian military to use the MQ-1C will take only 27 days. And, if Ukraine had access to such weapons, it “could find and attack Russian warships in the Black Sea, breaking its enforced blockade and easing the twin pressures on the Ukrainian economy and world food prices.”

We will remind, rumors about the possible transfer of UAVs to Ukraine MQ-1C Gray Eagle appeared as early as the summer of 2022. But on June 20, the USA denied them due to fears that classified equipment could fall into the hands of the Russians. First of all, it was about the drone’s radar and surveillance equipment.

And in early November 2022, a spokesman for General Atomics, a manufacturer of heavy combat UAVs, said that in the future the manufacturer was ready to provide attack UAVs to Ukraine.

This is not the first time that members of the US Congress from both parties have pushed the Biden administration to provide Ukraine with heavy UAVs. In September, 17 lawmakers had already called on the administration to speed up the MQ-1C Gray Eagle review process.

Unfortunately, the decision on the American attack UAVs has not yet been made.