Rubio made the comments to Fox News on Sept. 2.
He noted, however, that such an agreement would not address Ukraine’s immediate needs. Even after obtaining a license, he said, establishing production of such sophisticated weapons and building the necessary factories could take several years.
“This is something that is being discussed right now,” said the secretary.
“As I’ve said, it is not an immediate solution. Scaling up production, even with a license, would take several years because factories would have to be built. This is highly sophisticated weaponry.”
“So this is being discussed and it could happen, but it really would not solve the short-term problem they have identified.”
Rubio also addressed a question about whether Washington was rejecting Ukraine’s offer to help the United States and its allies with drone technology, given Kyiv’s expertise in the field.
“If there is a deal that makes sense for the United States, I think we pursue those deals; we discuss them, and all of them are works in progress,” he said.
“I don’t have an announcement on that today, but we are always looking for ways to strengthen our own defense. If someone has an opportunity to partner with us and create something like that, we would certainly be open to it.”
In July, Trump said Washington would grant Kyiv permission to manufacture interceptor missiles but later expressed doubts about the proposal. Media reports said the United States was concerned about the risk of classified technology leaking to Russia.
One possible compromise under consideration would have
Ukraine manufacture some missile components while the missiles were physically
assembled in Germany.