The USA has upgraded the Floor-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) to counter Russian jamming and is ready to “reintroduce” them onto the battlefield in Ukraine inside days, in accordance with a Reuters report.
The GLSDB, collectively developed by Boeing and SAAB AB, combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb with the M26 rocket motor, making a weapon with a variety of roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers).
The administration of former President Joe Biden despatched an undisclosed variety of GLSDB models to Kiev, however it has been “months” since Ukrainian forces final used the bomb towards Russia after it proved ineffective final yr, sources instructed Reuters.
Russia’s digital warfare capabilities rendered precision-guided Western munitions – together with GLSDB and GPS-guided Excalibur artillery shells – ”ineffective,” the Wall Road Journal reported in July. With their steering techniques scrambled, a few of these weapons had been reportedly retired inside weeks of being deployed.
Since then, Boeing has launched a number of upgrades, together with strengthened inside connections to reinforce resistance to jamming. In keeping with Reuters sources, no less than 19 GLSDBs had been test-fired in “current weeks” to evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications. The US has stockpiled a major variety of these comparatively cheap bombs in Europe and is “poised” to renew shipments to Kiev inside days, the publication reported.
The potential alternative comes amid reviews that Ukraine has depleted its stockpile of US-supplied Military Tactical Missile Methods (ATACMS), which have an extended vary of 300 km.
Kiev started utilizing ATACMS missiles for strikes into internationally acknowledged Russian territory within the autumn of 2024, significantly focusing on the border areas of Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, and Rostov. Nevertheless, the stockpile was totally exhausted by late January, the Related Press reported on Wednesday.
Moscow has repeatedly warned the US and its allies towards allowing long-range Ukrainian strikes, arguing that such assaults would make NATO a direct participant within the battle because of Kiev’s reliance on Western-supplied weapons.
In response to Ukraine’s first ATACMS strikes in November final yr, Russia launched its new hypersonic Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile on the Yuzhmash military-industrial facility within the Ukrainian metropolis of Dnepr.
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