Joining us now is dr. Colin kah who will openl with a statement which highlights the next round of Security Assistance for you rain under the president ial drawdown authority. We will then open it up to the room and the phones for q and a. We will do our best to get around the room today. Dr. Kahl good afternoon, its good to see all of you again and i last saw you i think june one for the announcement of the 11th president ial drawdown package. As we have made clear, we are committed to continued Security Assistance for ukraine as they stand up to russias unprovoked invasion. President biden directed the 18th drawdown of an additional 1 billion in weapons and equipment from the department of defense inventories. This the largest single drawdown of u. S. Arms and equipment utilizing this authority to date stop it provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons and equipment, the types of with the ukrainian people are using effectively to defend their country stop the capabilities this package include the following, additional ammunition for highend mobility rocket systems , 75,000 rounds of 155 millimeter artillery, 2100 20 millimeter systems and 20,000 rounds of associated mortar ammunition coming munitions for National Advanced surface to air systems, 1000 javelin systems and hundreds of at4 antiarmor systems, 50 armor medical treatment facilities, antipersonnel, demolition munitions and demolition equipments and medical supplies to include firstaid kits, bandages, monitors and other equipment. These are all critical capabilities to help ukrainians repel the russian offensive in the east and to address evolving developments in the south and elsewhere. The United States is now committed approximately 9. 8 billion dollars in Security Assistance to ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration including 9. 1 billion since the beginning of russias most recent unprovoked invasion in february. The United States continue to work as allies and partners to provide ukraine with capabilities to meet its evolving battlefield airmans and our allies and partners have stepped up to provide billions of dollars of their own. We will continue to consult with ukraine with additional systems in terms of its defense. The secretary is in touch with his counterpart in ukraine. At every stage of this conflict, we have been focused on getting the ukrainians what they need depending on the evolving conditions. We have been working on fulfilling request to deliver weapons from the United States stocks when they are available and facilitating the delivery of weapons by allies and partners to suit ukraines needs. At least 50 countries have now provided secured he systems to ukraine since russia invaded. More than 50 countries have participated in the Ukraine DefenseContact Group that secretary often convenes regularly. Our joint and unified efforts ensure that unit that ukraine can be successful and build enduring strength for the future. I would like to repeat something i set up my last rethink. Its important as we focus on these capabilities to member the behindthescenes efforts involve from our Service Members to civilians and contractors who are working to obtain and move this equipment. From the individual bases to the transportation command providing movement support, to our Service Members on rotation in support of our enhanced presence across u. S. European command and their own policy professionals here in the office of the secretary of defense. The department has come together in extreme every ways to support this historic effort. Without our most valuable resource, the never ending dedication and support of our employees and contractors, this response would not have been possible. With that, im happy to take the first question. I think we will start with the ap who i believe is on the phone. Thank you for doing this. Im sorry if you said this already but how many rockets are included in this package . Dr. Kahl weve never given precise numbers of the rockets. We dont want to tip off the russians to every last detail. Since we provided the himars and associated ammunition, precision missiles with 70 kalama nader kilometer range, we have provided multiple hundreds of the systems in the past few weeks. I will not go into the details of the specific number in this package. Back to the room thank you, on a separate topic on china and taiwan, prior to Nancy Pelosis trip, it has been said that china will not seize taiwan in the next two years. Do you still believe china will not militarily seize taiwan in the next few years . Dr. Kahl good question. As it relates to ukrainian casualty numbers, the fighting has been intense for some time in the east intensifying also in the south. The numbers of casualties of going up and down. I cannot speak to the veracity of those particular numbers but i will say that the ukrainian morale and will to fight is unquestioned and much higher than the average morale on the russian side. I think that gives the ukrainians a significant advantage. More than 40 million ukrainians are fighting for their survival. The russians are taking a tremendous number of casualties. Precise figures, there is a lot of fog in war but i think its safe to suggest that the russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 cast season less than six month which is a combination of killed and wounded and that number might be a little lower or higher but thats in the ballpark. Thats pretty remarkable considering the russians have achieved none of Vladimir Putins objectives at the beginning of the war. The overall objective was to overrun the entire country and to engage in regime change. They do not value you can is a sovereign nation and none of that has happened stop the initial thrust on keyv was rolled back by the ukrainians in the russians shifted to the east. They have made some incremental gains in the east but not very much in the last couple of weeks but that has come at extraordinary cost to the Russian Military because of how well the Ukrainian Military has performed and the assistance the Ukrainian Military has gotten. Conditions in the east now have essentially stabilized and the focus is really shifting to the south. Thats because in part, the ukrainians are putting pressure down south in the russians have been forced to redeploy down there. Both sides are taking cash these in the work is the most intense conflict in the europe since the Second World War but the ukrainians have a lot of advantages not the least of which is their will to fight. As it relates to china and taiwan, the crisis across the straight is essentially a manufactured one by beijing. Speaker pelosis visit is not the first time a speaker from the u. S. House has traveled to taiwan. They regularly go to taiwan. Our congress is an independent body of our government involving our policy toward taiwan or china. We continue to have a one china policy and continue to object to any unilateral change in the status quote whether that be from the prc were from taiwan. Chinas reaction was completely unnecessary. Clearly, they were not happy with the speakers visit and you saw a series of live fire demonstrations including something around dozen missile exercises that bracketed the island. You see an increased pace of naval and air activities in the straight including those over the socalled center line between Mainland China and taiwan. Clearly, the prc is trying to coerce taiwan and coerce the international community. We are not going to take the bait and its not going to work. Its a manufactured crisis that does not mean we have to play into that. I think it would only play to beijings advantage. What we will do instead is to continue to fly, sale and operate wherever International Law allows us and that includes in the taiwan straight and we will continue to stand by our allies and partners in the region. I think there is a lot of confidence in the u. S. Commit and. Fox news . He asked whether there was a new assessment as to whether china is willing to take taiwan militarily within two years. Dr. Kahl no. How long do you assess that russia can sustain this dr. Kahl . I cannot answer with a high degree of certainty and a lot will depend on the political decisions that Vladimir Putin will make as to whether he can continue to recruit and send Additional Forces to the front and whether he was willing to engage in National Mobilization or some other effort. He has tried to describe the invasion as a special military operation and is hesitant to mobilize his entire country toward the effort. I dont know and a lot the hands on decisions they will make. The Russian Military has been faring badly. It is known they can steamroll over ukraine and a matter of days or weeks and it now turns out to have been a profound miscalculation. The ukrainians are doing more than holding their own. I expect that trend will continue. Thank you. I have a small question about the package. [indiscernible] about china and taiwan, does the u. S. Assess some chinese planes flew over taiwan and is that something the japanese said and is it the first time . Dr. Kahl i dont know we assess that any man to chinese aircraft have flown over any areas claimed by taiwan. I dont have information to report on that. There were five missiles that china launched as part of their exercises that landed in japans eez, their exclusive Economic Zone which was a sign of how reckless the prc reaction was. Its a sign that actions like this are not mature and responsible. Its a challenge to a free and open in the pacific which we care about but japan and our other allies. About. Beyond that, i dont have information whether there was overflight of any small island or feature that taiwan claims. The details we provided before has to do with demolition work i Ukrainian SpecialOperation Forces and others. Wall street journal . I want to go back to a couple of things you said. Could you give us some insight as to why there were certain parts left out of this package. I want to go back to what we learned about chinese capability with the chinese straits. Your conclusion that they wouldnt take the island but during the exercise, we saw them have Economic Impact on taiwan and their ability to slow down ships in trade. From your perspective, given that taiwan says they will be doing more exercises, at what point does it become a Security Threat to the taiwanese economy . Dr. Kahl on the himars effectiveness, its just a truck that has a canister on the back that launches guided rockets. The munitions themselves, the gimlers, profound effect. Its the equivalent of a gps guided airstrike. Theyre very effective in hitting things that previously the ukrainians had difficulty hitting reliably. Sustainment and logistic hubs and key Radar Systems and other things, its made it more difficult for the russians to move forces around the battlefield and have had two more move certain aspects back. It has slowed them down and made it harder for them to resupply their forces so i think its having real operational effect. Why arent there more in this package . The reason is we provided a tremendous number of them in the last pda package and we are now in a rhythm of shipping it and things are arriving on a steady basis. You can expect in the next pda package there will be another group ofgimlers. I defer to our counterparts at the treasury and Commerce Department on the impact. My sense from reading what they say is that there hasnt been much of an effect on the taiwanese economy or the international economy. There wasnt a great reaction from the markets and even though beijing was trying to manufacture a crisis, we didnt rise to the bait. We were very conscious that this was not a spiraling moment. As the operational tempo of prc activity increases in and around taiwan, there is in a normal cement of Global Commerce that passes through the taiwan straits. I wanted self is a mom the most impactful entities on the planet earth, providing 7090 of the most danced semiconductors that everyone uses. There could be a point at which the prc could engage in activities that would have economic consequences not just for taiwan but for the world economy. There are many reasons why there is a global consensus that there needs to be stability across the taiwan straight and confluence is in nobodys interest. Its certainly not in the u. S. Interest. We will keep our eye on it but right now, i dont think the concert went is is that profound. We will go to cnn. You describe peak or pelosis visit as standard or routine. If thats the case, why did the military not want Speaker Pelosi to go. You are sending ammo from the east but youre not sending more systems. Ive wondered if you reach the limit of what you can pull directly from dod inventories. Dr. Kahl to your question about the military views, i will let the president s words speak for themselves. From the beginning, the pentagon was dedicated to making sure that the speaker could grow could go. We would provide her the support required. We had forces in the region in the event something unanticipated happen and thankfully none of that happened. I thought we anticipated the visit would make news. And that the leadership in beijing would presented as being provocative. And they would seek to manufacture the crisis we have seen unfolding before us. We predicted what happened precisely as it was going to happen in the days before the trip, we said china was preparing to do these live fire exercises at a higher tempo including activities closer to taiwan so nothing china has done has surprised us. We are at a moment of profound international tension. We are talking about russia and ukraine with developments elsewhere and there was the sense that the world did not require another instance of rising tensions but it is what it is and the speaker had every right to go and when she made the fully the final decision, we were fully supportive and manage it well so this kind of manufactured prices by beijing has produced more consequences than any of us would like. Why are we not seeing more himas . We said 16himar systems was quite a lot. You dont need to have them in the hundreds, the are precision guided systems for particular types of targets and the ukrainians are using it as such. The brits have provided three m270 mrs systems. Its the exact same system but its on the chassis of an Armored Vehicle stopped it can carry two to canisters instead of one. The brits are providing three so far in the germans have committed to providing three so our feeling is that the ukrainians are doing well in terms of the numbers of systems and the priority now is making sure they have a steady stream of these gimlers and the same is true on the m777 howitzers. We provided a large number of the systems in the priority is to make sure the ukrainians have the ammunition to keep them in the fight. Bloomberg here you talked about the attrition of Russian Troops so can you talk about their supplies. Are they running by in the colloquial . What do you see in the baltic areas. Dr. Kahl the russians are expending a lot of musician munitions. Our investment is they have attributed a certain percentage of their guided munitions and their standoff musicians most i think we have seen a reduction in how often they are using those because they are running low. In terms of exactly how much they have left and what their assessment is and what they need to keep in reserve but on the pg ms and standup munitions, those have been substantially consumed. The in addition to the crippling sanctions put on russia, there are export controls that limit certain Critical Technologies especially components like microchips that are essential for russia to recapitalize itspgms munitions. Its going to be harder for them to rebuild the high end pieces of their military because of the International Export controls the United States has championed. As far as other types of ammunition, my feeling is that they have a lot of dumb artillery rounds and other munitions like that. We are not suggesting they are reaching an inflection where theyre about to run out of that. At this point, the russians are probably lost three or 4000 Armored Vehicles. A lot of that is because of the antiarmor systems like javelin and theat4s which are in this package but also the creativity and ingenuity of the way the ukrainians have used those systems especially in the early phase of the conflict. You wanted to add something on taiwan . You mentioned the chinese bracketed taiwan with missiles. Can you confirm the missiles flew over taiwan . Dr. Kahl china put in place half a dozen exclusion zones that surrounded. We know a number of missiles flew into an area where it would look like the track might be passing over taiwan. Over depends on the loss and trajectory and what you consider to be over and thats the first time or not the first time. I dont have the physics of it in front of me so i will because as of that but we know chinese missiles landed north and east of the island. You can see where the flight trajectory would be but other than that, i will not comment. We have time for a couple of more. Cbs . General brown said this publicly that even if there is no plan has gotten to the top members of the holding or the resident, can you talk about the work being done to consider training more ukrainians . You predicted would beijing would do to taiwan but there are missiles that flew from the mainland and landed on the other side of taiwan and there were missiles that landed inside taiwanese waters and a disruption to taiwanese shipping. It seems like beijing is creating a new status quo. What can you and taiwan do to stop it . Dr. Kahl on the f16s, are overwhelming priority is getting the ukrainians things necessary for the current fight. Fight is in the eez now we need to get them capabilities that deliver on the timeframe relevant to that so we are focused on these capabilities, not something that might deliver in a year or so. There is work being done here at the pentagon and elsewhere in europe and elsewhere to help work the with the ukrainians to identify ukrainian longterm requirements. These are measured in months and years. There are real questions about what would be most useful in terms of assisting the Ukrainian Air force. Its not inconceivable that down the road, western aircraft could be part of the mix on that. The final analysis is not an done stop in the near term, weve been doing lots of things to make ukraine the Ukraine Air Force be more capable. A lot was made about the mig 29 issues months ago but not very much is been noticed about sheer amounts of spare parts and other things that have put more of their mig 29s in the air and flying longer. In recent pda packages, we have included a number of antiradiation missiles that can be fired off of Ukrainian Aircraft that can have an effect on russian radars. Theres all kinds of things that we are trying to make their existing capabilities more effective. Our policy has not changed. We have a one china policy. We also have a commitment under the taiwan relations act to provide taiwan the capability to defend itself. That precludes the use of violence or force and a change across the straight. We dont support china using its military actions against taiwan and we dont support taiwan moving toward independence. The support for the status quo has not changed but chinas policy has changed and what they are trying to do is salami slice their way into a new regime. The sheer number of maritime and assets crossing over this the fact of centerline and creeping closer to taiwan shores where its clear that beijing is trying to create a new normal. They have a goal of trying to coerce taiwan but also to coerce the international community. Whats important for us is to make sure that beijing understands our forces in the region will continue to operate and fly and sale were International Waters allowing that the taiwan straight to stop you should expect we will continue to do transit in the taiwan straight full we will continue to do freedom of navigation operations elsewhere in the ridge and stand by our allies and partners. China will chip away at the status quo but our policies is to maintain the status quote in the asia civic. I think most of the region would prefer that. Last question. [indiscernible] have the system from norway been actually delivered to ukraine . Dr. Kahl there are no nasams the missiles that are in the system which can be used for the nasam. As they have to make sure all the missiles are in good shape and will get there in time. You wanted to ask a question on afghanistan . From the fall of kabul, i wanted to get your thoughts as to what the soviets are doing. Have there been discussions as to whether it was a policy mistake not to leave a small footprint of u. S. Forces in afghanistan . Dr. Kahl there are ongoing lessons learned. There has obviously been some media coverage. That review is completed. It remains classified in the secretary is looking at it and when we have more to or on the status of that report, we will. Its an obligation for all of us to look at the final days of afghanistan but the 20 years of the conflict stop its important to the secretary of defense and the white house and to members of congress and i hope its possible we take that assessment out of politics and the desire to score points and reflect on the lessons from americas longest war. The fundamental driver of the president s decision to complete the withdrawal from afghanistan was negotiated by the Trump Administration was a recognition that americas Strategic Priorities shifted and the United States had to prioritize our pacing challenge posed by the peoples republic of china. We had to be prepared to focus more on the threat to European Security represented by the acute threat that russia poses. For too long, we had been bogged down in a particular part of the world at the expense of other, more pressing Strategic Priorities and the events we have been talking about today validate that assessment. The world has changed and we need to focus on the biggest threats to our security in the contemporary environment. The other thing the president believed was that we could withdraw thousands of troops in afghanistan and still protect our Vital National interests when they are threatened from something emanating from afghanistan. A lot of our critics did not believe that was possible. They didnt think you could do things over the horizon and we couldnt achieve counterterrorism objectives or the objective of protecting the American Homeland if we didnt have thousands of boots on the ground in afghanistan. Thats not the president s view and in the last 10 days and the strike that was carried out on the leader of al qaeda, one of the two coplanners of 9 11, we have demonstrated to al qaeda but also to other terrorist organizations that we can still reach out and touch them and protect our Vital National interest even though we no longer have thousands of troops in afghanistan. Thank you, everybody. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspan is your unfiltered view of government. 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