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  4.  » America could send 100-mile precision strike weapons to Ukraine that would let Kyiv strike behind Russian lines as Zelensky tries to replenish his shrinking weapons haul
  • Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap bombs
  • The proposed explosives can be fitted to abundantly available rockets
  • U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons to fight off Vladimir Putin’s invasion 

Chris Jewers – Daily Mail Nov 28, 2022

The United States could send weapons capable of 100-mile precision strikes to Ukraine, that would allow Kyiv to strike deep behind Russian lines – as the West struggles to meet demand for more arms.

The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small precision bombs that are fitted onto abundantly available rockets – as president Volodymyr Zelensky works to replenish his shrinking arsenal.

Boeing’s proposed system, dubbed Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), is one of about a half-dozen plans for getting new munitions into production for Ukraine and America’s Eastern European allies, industry sources said.

U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags on into its ten month.

GLSDB could be delivered as early as spring 2023, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and three people familiar with the plan. The West has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with such long-range weapons, out of fear that the conflict could escalate further.

GLSDBs combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in U.S. inventories.

This would mean it could be launched from from ground-based missile systems – such as the M270 MLRS or the HIMARS system.

Doug Bush, the U.S. Army’s chief weapons buyer, told reporters at the Pentagon last week the Army was also looking at accelerating production of 155 millimeter artillery shells – currently only manufactured at government facilities – by allowing defense contractors to build them.

The invasion of Ukraine drove up demand for American-made weapons and ammunition, while U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are ‘putting a lot of orders,’ in for a range of arms as they supply Ukraine, Bush added.

‘It’s about getting quantity at a cheap cost,’ said Tom Karako, a weapons and security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said falling U.S. inventories help explain the rush to get more arms now, saying stockpiles are ‘getting low relative to the levels we like to keep on hand and certainly to the levels we’re going to need to deter a China conflict.’

Karako also noted that the U.S. exit from Afghanistan left lots of air-dropped bombs available. They cannot be easily used with Ukrainian aircraft, but ‘in today’s context we should be looking for innovative ways to convert them to standoff capability.’

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Justin Crump – a former British Army officer and now CEO of Sibylline, a strategic risk consultancy company – said that the GLSDB systems would bring more high-value Russian targets into the range of Kyiv’s military.

He explained that the GLSDB concept would be a relatively simple and cost-effective modification that would increase the range of Ukrainian MLRS and HIMARS.

The systems could also be produced at the same time as ‘normal’ rockets, Mr Crump said, and thus help ‘overcome the bottlenecks in ammunition supply that are currently hindering support for Ukraine’.

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