New US missiles could strike Russia
European allies place ‘a lot of orders’ for American arms
The US could send Ukraine cheap new precision missiles capable of hitting targets 160km away, enabling Kyiv to strike positions deep behind Russian lines.
The Pentagon is considering a proposal by Boeing to provide the ground-launched small diameter bomb (GLSDB) system as the West struggles to meet Ukraine’s demand for more arms.
The weapons, relatively quick and cheap to produce, have about twice the range of standard Himars missiles and could be deployed in Ukraine as early as April, according to documents.
While Washington has declined requests for the ATACMS missile, which has a range of 300km, the GLSDBS would bring within striking distance valuable military targets previously out of reach.
The small, Gps-guided devices are fitted to abundantly available rockets that can be fired from Himars and M270 launchers and have fold-out wings that extend their range.
They are reportedly capable of hitting targets as small as a metre in diameter and can destroy armoured vehicles and buildings.
With Western military inventories depleted by the war in Ukraine, Boeing’s proposal is one of roughly half a dozen plans to produce new munitions for Ukraine and Washington’s other European allies.
Doug Bush, the US Army’s chief weapons buyer, said last week he was also looking at accelerating production of munitions manufactured at government facilities by allowing defence contractors to build them.
US allies in Eastern Europe were “putting a lot of orders” in for a range of arms as they supplied Ukraine.
The GLSDB combines the GBU-39 small diameter bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in American inventories.
Boeing faces hurdles to its production of GLSDBS, including a Pentagon waiver to a price review.
Lieutenant Commander Tim Gorman, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment on the production of GLSDBS for Ukraine but said the US and its allies would “identify and consider the most appropriate systems” to help Kyiv.
It came as Russia indefinitely postponed nuclear weapons talks with the US scheduled for this week.
Their officials were due to meet in Cairo today to discuss a New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty.
The talks had been taken as a sign both sides wished to maintain dialogue, even though relations have sunk to Cold War levels.
But the US State Department said Moscow “unilaterally postponed the meeting and stated that it would propose new dates”.
Meanwhile, Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, paid a visit to Downing Street yesterday to meet Akshata Murty, Rishi Sunak’s wife.
Murty welcomed Zelenska outside No 10 amid heavy security and the pair exchanged a hug before walking inside the building.
Zelenska is in London to take part in an international conference on preventing sexual violence during conflicts and was expected to address MPS and peers yesterday.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday warned another week of cold and darkness lay ahead, predicting more Russian attacks on infrastructure that would not cease until Moscow ran out of missiles.