New missiles may boost Kyiv
The United States could send Ukraine cheap new precision bombs that are capable of hitting targets 160km away, allowing Kyiv to strike targets deep behind Russian lines.
The Pentagon is considering a proposal by Boeing to send the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) system as the West struggles to meet Ukraine’s demand for more arms.
The weapons, which are relatively quick and cheap to produce, have about twice the range of standard Himars missiles and could be deployed in Ukraine as early as next spring, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Although Washington has declined requests for the ATACMS missile, which has a range of 300km, the GLSDBs would still allow Ukraine to hit valuable military targets that have hitherto been out of reach.
The small, GPS-guided bombs are fitted onto abundantly available rockets that can be fired from Himars and M270 launchers, with fold-out wings to extend their range.
They are reportedly capable of hitting targets as small as 1 metre across and can take out armoured vehicles and buildings.
With Western military inventories depleted because of the war in Ukraine, Boeing’s proposal is one of roughly half a dozen plans for getting new munitions into production for Ukraine and the United States’ other European allies. Doug Bush, the US Army’s chief weapons buyer, said last week that the army was also looking at accelerating production of munitions currently only manufactured at government facilities by allowing defence contractors to build them.
Bush added that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up demand for US-made weapons and ammunition, not just from Kyiv. US allies in Eastern Europe are ‘‘putting a lot of orders’’ in for a range of arms as they supply Ukraine, he said.
The GLSDB combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in US inventories.
‘‘It’s about getting quantity at a cheap cost,’’ said Tom Karako, a weapons and security expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Karako said concerns over depleting US stockpiles are behind the production rush. Current levels are ‘‘getting low relative to the levels we like to keep on hand,’’ he said.
Boeing still faces some hurdles to its production of GLSDBs, including a Pentagon waiver to a price review.
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Tim Gorman declined to comment on the production of GLSDBs for Ukraine but said the US and its allies ‘‘identify and consider the most appropriate systems’’ that would help Kyiv.
It came as Russia indefinitely postponed nuclear weapons talks with the US that had been scheduled for this week. Officials from the two countries had been due to meet in Cairo tomorrow to discuss resuming inspections under a nuclear arms reduction treaty.