The US Department of Defence overestimated by $1.9 billion the cost of some weapons supplied to Ukraine, according to a Pentagon press release.
Inspector General Robert P. Storch announced that the Department of Defence Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) released the “Audit of the DoD’s Revaluation of the Support Provided to Ukraine Through Presidential Drawdown Authority” on 13 June.
According to the Pentagon audit, the price of 2,300 vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, tanks, and radars sent to Ukraine was overstated by $653 million. Meanwhile, they should have been sold at an undervalued price due to wear and tear.
The authors noted that the cost of missiles and ammunition was also overstated by $1.25 billion. In total, the Pentagon overstated the price of military aid to Ukraine by $8.1 billion.
In June 2023, the DoD acknowledged a $6.2 billion error stemming from its overvaluation of PDA provided to the Government of Ukraine (GoU). (…) Combined with the previously acknowledged $6.2 billion error, the total of overvalued defense articles provided through PDA is $8.1 billion.
Storch said the discovery of “an additional $1.9 billion in overvalued defence articles” showed that the Department of Defence and its components had failed to fully implement the updated policy.
We also discovered instances where some DoD Components involved in the valuation of defense articles lacked a full understanding of the accounting principles in the DoD Comptroller’s policy updates and were unable to implement these updates due to financial reporting material weaknesses.
It also recommended that the Under Secretary of Defence and the Chief Financial Officer request the military departments to conduct a full data review.
The DoD OIG will continue to monitor progress on all recommendations.
