The war in Ukraine took a surprisingly pleasant turn this week when Ukrainian forces conducted a counteroffensive to reclaim three major cities and huge tracts of land that had been occupied by Russia.
In all, Ukraine has retaken about 3,500 square miles of territory from Moscow's forces in the Kharkiv region.
In many cases, Vladimir Putin's troops fled before the Ukrainians even got there, speeding away in tanks so fast that they ran into trees. Others stole cars from the civilian populace and just drove off.
Now, let me be clear upfront: The Ukrainian military, from its top generals to the grunts on the ground, deserve the lion's share of the credit for this success. They have fought a hard, thoughtful campaign to repel an enemy with far greater resources.
Still, there is absolutely no way Ukraine would be in the position it's in today without U.S. military assistance.
The U.S. has furnished Ukraine with $14.5 billion in military equipment since February and more is on the way - maybe as soon as this week.
The standout stars of these aid packages have been Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stingers, and HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems).
Stingers have been essential in blunting Russia's air force. They use an infrared camera to track the heat generated by a target's engine and establish an ultraviolet fingerprint to distinguish that target from other heat-emitting objects.
Once it's locked on, the image sensor tracks the target's flight path and the guidance system adjusts the missile's course accordingly. This allows it to lead the target.
Stingers can hit targets flying as high as 11,500 feet and have a range of about 5 miles.
Javelins are shoulder-fired anti-tank systems. They entered service in 1996 and have a range of 2.5 miles. Like the Stinger, the Javelin locks on to a target's thermal picture and homes in on it.
However, the Javelin deploys in stages in which a pair of high-explosive antitank (HEAT) warheads explode against a tank's reactive armor shell, opening a path for a third warhead to reach the target's main armor.
And HIMARS consist of a rocket launcher mounted to a truck with a pod of six 227-mm guided missiles. One of their key advantages (in addition to their mobility and precision) is their range, which is about 50 miles.