The US is considering sending a 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small, precision bombs mounted on plentiful missiles, allowing Kyiv to strike far behind Russian lines while the West struggles to stem demand for more weapons to satisfy.

US and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags on. Boeing’s proposed system, dubbed the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), is one of about half a dozen plans to put new munitions into production for Ukraine and America’s Eastern European allies, industry sources said.

Although the United States has denied requests for the 185-mile ATACMS missile, the 94-mile range of the GLSDB would allow Ukraine to hit valuable military targets that were out of range and help her defend her Continue counterattacks by disrupting Russian rear areas.

GLSDB could be delivered as early as spring 2023, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and three people familiar with the plan. It combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket engine, both of which are common in US inventories.

Doug Bush, the US Army’s top arms buyer, told reporters at the Pentagon last week that the Army is also considering speeding up production of 155mm artillery shells — which are currently only manufactured at government facilities — by allowing defense contractors to manufacture them to build.

The invasion of Ukraine has spurred demand for American-made arms and ammunition, while US allies in Eastern Europe are placing “many orders” for a range of weapons while supplying Ukraine, Bush added.

“It’s about getting quantity at a cheap price,” said Tom Karako, a weapons and security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said falling US stockpiles help explain the rush to get more guns now, saying stockpiles are “getting low compared to the levels we like to have on hand and certainly to the levels that we will need to deter a China conflict”.

Karako also noted that the US pullout from Afghanistan left many air-dropped bombs available. They cannot easily be used with Ukrainian aircraft, but “in today’s context, we should look for innovative ways to convert them into standoff.”