Biden tells Alabama workers making anti-tank missiles they ‘make it possible’ for Ukraine to fight Russia

By Kaitlan Collins and Maegan Vazquez, CNN

President Joe Biden on Tuesday told workers in Alabama that the anti-tank missiles they’re making at their facility are making possible the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion and keeping US fighters out of the war.

It’s a trip that would have seemed far-fetched to Biden’s own advisers one year ago, visiting a weapons-making facility in ruby-red Alabama. But 69 days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the trip was especially timely. Biden, who last week urged Congress to authorize a $33 billion aid package, toured and delivered remarks from the sprawling Lockheed Martin manufacturing facility in Troy, which sits on 4,000 acres and is the final assembly plant for Javelins, the anti-tank missiles that have been critical to Ukraine’s defense because they are lightweight systems that can be operated by one person and hit targets more than two miles away.

In his remarks, the President repeatedly credited workers for contributing to supplying weapons in the war in Ukraine, drawing parallels to defense production efforts during World War II.

“We know that the United States is leading our allies and partners around the world to make sure that the Ukrainians who are fighting of the future of the nation have the weapons and the capacity and ammunition and equipment to defend themselves against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal war. A lot of war crimes being committed,” Biden said. Workers in the facility, the President said, “make it possible” for Ukrainian forces “to have a shot.”

“You’re making a gigantic difference for these poor sons of guns who are under such enormous, enormous pressure and firepower,” he told the crowd.

The President suggested the war marks the first fight of what he has long called a generational battle of autocracy versus democracy, saying facility workers are central toward arming nations with democratic values.

“Because of you, in this first — really — battle if you will … to determine whether that’s gonna happen, it’s because you’re making it possible. You’re making it possible for the Ukrainian people to defend themselves without us having to risk getting in a third world war by sending in American soldiers fighting Russian soldiers,” Biden said.

He continued, saying, “You’re allowing the Ukrainians to defend themselves and, quite frankly, they’re making fools of the Russian military in many instances. A big part of the reason they’ve been able to keep up fighting and to make this war a strategic failure for Russia, is because the United States together with our allies and partners have had their back.”

The US has delivered over 5,000 Javelins to Ukraine from US stockpiles and almost 500 more from allies and partners. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Javelins have been “very, very effective in this fight” and Ukrainian officials have at times asked for 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles daily.

Sending Ukraine those Javelins quickly has become a numbers game. The Lockheed Martin facility can produce up to 2,100 Javelins per year, which is less than half of what the US has sent to Ukraine so far.

Lockheed Martin’s CEO, James Taiclet, told CNN on Tuesday that the company plans to ramp up its production of Javelins, but he warned that it could take years to boost production significantly.

“Our goal here is to take the production rate of Javelins from about 2,100 per year to upwards of 4,000 a year. And we have to make sure we can tie all the loose ends together to do that, but we’re pretty confident we can,” Taiclet said.

“I think the ramping up will be linear, but it will take a couple of years to get there,” he added.

Biden said Congress must quickly pass the $33 billion new aid package, telling those in the audience on Tuesday, “This fight isn’t going to be cheap, but caving to aggression would even be more costly.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday the US has been able to transfer equipment from stockpiles “without affecting military readiness.”

Because each Javelin requires more than 200 semiconductors to be produced, Biden also called on Congress to pass the Bipartisan Innovation Act to boost domestic chip manufacturing.

He said semiconductors are “critical to defense production capacity.”

“That’s why we’re making it as hard as we can for Russia to get a hold of these semiconductors and advanced technologies that can be used to upgrade its military during this conflict and why we’re making it easier to source what we need here in the United States during the global semiconductor shortage,” Biden continued. “It’s just one more reason why Congress has to act quickly to provide the emergency funding in the so-called CHIPS Act by passing a broader Bipartisan Innovation Act.”

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CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.