Pentagon Confirms Provision of New US Precision-Guided GLSDB Bombs to Ukraine
The United States Department of Defence commented on the possibility of providing Ukraine with new GLSDB precision-guided bombs as early as Wednesday, 31 January.
At a briefing, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder confirmed that Ukraine will receive GLSDBs in accordance with last year's agreements, but the US Defence Department cannot confirm the specific timing of the transfer of weapons for the sake of security.
"With regard to the small diameter bomb, as we acknowledged last year, we will provide Ukraine with a ground-launched small diameter bomb as part of our USAI-funded security assistance efforts. However, for security reasons, we are not going to confirm a specific timeline," Ryder said.
"We're postponing talks about any deliveries to Ukraine, but we are, as I mentioned, continuing to work closely with Ukraine, and with our industrial partners, to ensure that Ukraine is receiving and ready to use the capabilities we are providing them as quickly as possible," he added.
Earlier, Politico reported that the Pentagon had successfully tested a new GLSDB long-range precision-guided bomb, which could arrive in Ukraine as early as Wednesday, 31 January.
The US announced the supply of these guided bombs to Ukraine in February 2023. However, because this is a new weapon that is not yet in service even in the US army, it had to be tested. As a result, the GLSDB delivery date was eventually postponed to early 2024.
GLSDB is a GPS-guided bomb. It is capable of overcoming electronic interference and can be used in all weather conditions. It can also be used against armoured vehicles.
GLSDBs will allow the Ukrainian military to hit targets at twice the distance of the missiles they currently fire from the HIMARS Highly Mobile Artillery Missile System, also supplied by the United States. This, in turn, will force Russia to move its logistics further away from the front line.
Earlier, it was also reported that Ukraine received a batch of long-range ATACMS missiles from the United States.