The latest U.S. aid package includes a game-changing new weapon for Kyiv. One that doesn't have tracks or a turret.
The $2.17 billion aid package includes rocket-boosted glide bombs capable of doubling the range of Ukraine's rocket batteries against Russia.
The Ground-Launchedย Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) can find hard-to-reach targets up to 93 miles away. Unlike large-caliber projectiles fired by artillery, they can strike enemy forces positioned on the reverse slopes of hills.
Forbes has more on the never-before-used weapon, which may take up to nine months to arrive:
The munition combines Boeing's popular 250-pound Small-Diameter Bombโwith its GPS-aided inertial guidance, pop-out wings and different warhead optionsโwith a 350-pound booster borrowed from the old M26 rocket.
โGLSDB provides commanders and planners with a highly flexible weapon that complements existing ballistic trajectory weapons to significantly expand current ground artillery capability,โ Boeingย stated.
An MLRS can launch 12 M26-size rockets at a time. A HIMARS can launch six. Where a traditional rocketโeven a guided oneโtravels along a simple ballistic arc, a munition with a separable SDB could maneuverย backwardย for what Boeing described as a โreverse-slopeโ attack.
Some of the most valuable Russian logistical targets in occupied Ukraine are beyond the range of the M30/31s. The GLSDBs could do what the Ukrainians' dwindling arsenal of 70-mile-range Tochka ballistic missiles and an equally stressed air force currentlyย struggleย to doโstrike accurately, flexibly and far away โฆ without risking airframes and crews.
Ukrainian officials believe GLSDBs could play a decisive role in slowing down, or stopping, Russia's attempt to marshal forces deep inside Crimea and the occupied Donbas ahead of this year's expected offensive.
That is, if Ukraine receives enough of them in time.
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4 Comments
These artillery rounds capable of hitting Russian targets in Ukraine at much longer ranges should strike fear into the hearts of the invading orcs. I hope the Ukrainians begin receiving them very soon. Reports are coming out of the battlefield of many Russian conscripts surrendering or refusing to fight.
“US Pledges Longer-Range Glide Bombs for Ukraine”
Meanwhile, a slooooooow moving, Chinese balloon crosses the whole country of the USA from the Pacific, out by the Aleutian Islands, to the Atlantic unchallenged.
Freakin’ idiots in the biden MISINFORMATION. Complete treasonous IDIOTS.
US Pledges Longer-Range Glide Bombs for Ukraineโ
Meanwhile, a slooooooow moving, Chinese balloon crosses the whole country of the USA from the Pacific, out by the Aleutian Islands, to the Atlantic, unchallenged.
Idiots in the biden MISINFORMATION administration. Complete treasonous IDIOTS.
Meanwhile, a chinese balloon moves sloooowly from the Pacific Ocean, out by the Aleutian Islands, all the way across the USA to the Atlantic Ocean by South Carolina without any challenges from our military. Truly pathetic.