Why is it profitable for the United States of America to help Ukraine in the war against Russia?

"If the world gets tired (of helping Ukraine), they will just let us die," Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska said on the British BBC a few days ago. Such a radically frank statement was a reaction to the blocking of a key package of US aid to Ukraine in the amount of more than 60 billion dollars by American Republican senators on December 8.

A similar attack by American lawmakers can be understood against the background of the latest study by the Pew Research Center, the results of which show that 48% of Republicans believe that the United States of America helps Ukraine too much. The only thing that cannot be understood at the moment is whether these Republicans gave such an answer out of their own indifference or ignorance.

After all, it is difficult to overestimate the profits that the US economy receives from providing aid to Ukraine. It is even harder not to notice them. Because the support of Ukrainians has a very positive effect on the American population, the industrial production of the United States of America and entire states in which these Republicans were elected.

 

Marshall Plan inside out

Today, the productivity of the US defense sector is breaking all possible historical records.

Thus, the monthly output of the defense sector of the United States of America is the largest since the end of the Second World War and already exceeds the indicators of the times of the arms race (1950-1991) or the global war on terrorism (2001-2021).

Such unprecedented rates and volumes of production require a huge number of workers. So it is not surprising that thanks to the help to Ukraine, the American defense industry dominates the world labor market today.

The United States of America accounts for 60% of all global aerospace and defense jobs. Their closest competitors are 6-10 times behind.

Sales of American defense contractors increased by 42.8% to $50 billion in 2022 (compared to approximately $35 billion in 2021).

In addition, these companies have the ability to test their equipment in real time.

Ukraine has become a testing ground for modern technologies, which gives an advantage to the American defense industry. This directly strengthens not only security, but also the US economy and contributes to the employment of its population.

Today, there are 604,000 jobs in the manufacturing industry of the United States of America. This is not much less than the population of such cities as Boston, Portland or Detroit, or countries such as Luxembourg and Montenegro. And this is only one industry of the economy.

If we take the aerospace and defense industry of the United States of America, they have about 2.2 million jobs throughout their country. From California and Arizona to Connecticut and Ohio. From Texas and Florida to Ohio and Virginia.

In 2022, it was American defense and aerospace companies that increased the number of their employees by 101.7 thousand to 2.2 million people.

Ukraine's demand finally helped these American businesses to return to their predicted figures and even exceed them.

The multiplier effect in these industries is impressive. For example, in the aerospace industry, the supply chain with many levels of suppliers is extremely complex and multi-step.

The average American commercial aerospace company has more than 12,000 suppliers.

This means that only one American rocket or aircraft company makes money for more than ten thousand other businesses that employ people, receive profits and actually live off of it.

 

Everything should be brought into the family circle

There is no need to think that this is some local phenomenon like Silicon Valley, and the largest manufacturers are compactly concentrated in one place.

At least 117 production lines where American workers produce weapons for Ukraine are located today in 31 states and 71 cities. About 32 of these lines are located in the so-called Rust Belt - the former industrial heart of the United States of America, which is now coming back to life thanks to defense assistance to Ukraine.

For decades, various US administrations have looked for ways to restore the region's industry, but it was the support of Ukraine that became the solution that worked.

This was facilitated by the fact that up to 90% of the funds allocated by the United States of America for military aid to Ukraine were spent inside the USA.

Aid to Ukraine also provided $3.3 billion in direct industrial investment aimed at increasing the potential of the domestic defense industry across the Americas.

Currently, the largest recipients of aid are Pennsylvania ($2.4 billion), Arizona ($2.3 billion), Arkansas ($1.5 billion), Texas ($1.4 billion) and Florida ($1 billion). And although in these states they are skeptical about aid to Ukraine, it is there thanks to this aid that jobs are created and it is in these states that people get the opportunity to earn.

For example, in the state of Alabama alone, the defense industry supports 264,780 jobs with an annual payroll totaling $19.3 billion, while the total economic impact from military personnel and defense contracts statewide is $50.3 billion.

The city of Tucson in the state of Arizona, the birthplace of the legendary Stinger, has not produced a single missile since 2005. The enterprises of this city did not work actively. But in 2022, the local plant received a contract worth $625 million to supply Stinger weapons to Ukraine. In addition, it is worth noting that for the first time in 17 years, the factory produced rockets already known to the whole world.

In Florida, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems has leased a 240,000-square-foot building in the Mesquite Industrial Park to house a new ordnance manufacturing plant. For many years, Mesquite was a small provincial town, but now, thanks to Ukraine, it is becoming a powerful commercial center. This plant will add more than 125 jobs to the local community.

In Arkansas, Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of HIMARS, intends to increase the staff of its plant in the city of Camden by 20%, hiring 200 new employees, after the decision to provide HIMARS systems to Ukraine.

Of course, this expansion of the industrial sector in the American economy has an impact on other industries and businesses. In these states and cities, wages are rising, jobs are being created, and everyone from family farms and small coffee shops to shopping centers will benefit.

For example, right now the same Lockheed Martin is looking for 2,372 new employees throughout the United States of America, General Dynamics - 2,781, BAE Systems - 1,120, and RTX, known for its Javelin missiles, - 3,072 workers.

The websites of these companies have many job openings, and this is only a small part of the thousands of companies that manufacture weapons in the United States of America.

 

A showcase of American might

However, aid to Ukraine had a positive impact not only on the real sector of the economy, but also on the foreign trade potential of the United States of America.

Ukraine literally became a showcase of American technologies.

Thus, after providing Ukraine with HIMARS missile systems, the United States of America received additional orders for them from other countries in the amount of 2.124 billion dollars.

This figure does not include the offer to buy 486 HIMARS launchers for Poland, worth about 10 billion dollars.

The same is the case with Javelin missiles, which have become iconic not only in Ukraine, but also throughout the world. Since the beginning of 2022, they have been ordered by Great Britain, Norway, Albania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Thailand. The total amount of orders exceeds 600 million dollars. The situation is similar with orders for American Abrams tanks worth 9.5 billion dollars and for Swichblade barrage munitions – for 340 million dollars.

Thus, aid to Ukraine directly increased the demand for American military defense products both among NATO member countries and among other countries of the world.

To satisfy him, the United States of America creates incentives for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to transfer their old American-made and Soviet-era weapons systems to Ukraine. In exchange, the members of the Alliance buy modern American equipment, which is produced from scratch and costs much more.

It is not surprising that the total value of foreign military sales of the United States of America in 2022 was 153.7 billion dollars. This is 49% more compared to $103.4 billion in 2021.

The United States of America has helped launch the global rearmament of democracies, from which American companies are making money.

It is obvious that the public position "we help Ukraine too much" seems very politically attractive for certain congressmen or senators of the United States of America. After all, by positioning such a position, it is possible to play the role of a true economic patriot who, instead of foreign wars whose purpose is difficult to understand, takes care of the well-being of a well-understood and predictable American population. "Why do we need to finance other people's wars when we need to finance our own economy?" one of the potential candidates for the presidency of the United States of America excitedly asks the crowd.

But the truth is that defending the values of freedom, democracy, and justice that were an important aspect of the value system of the founding fathers of the United States of America has always brought both moral and material dividends. And the case of Ukraine is not an exception.

To ignore it is to be short-sighted. To not understand this aspect is to be a liar.

During these two years, Ukraine has become something much bigger than just a territory with a population within certain borders. By defending Ukraine, we are actually defending all those values that govern the modern Western world. And if some politicians believe that they are "supporting Ukraine too much", perhaps they should be asked what exactly, in their opinion, receives too much support – freedom, democracy or justice?

Read this article in Ukrainian and russian.