The initial GLSDB model did not perform well against Russian electronic warfare.
The U.S. has upgraded its Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) to overcome Russian jamming and plans to redeploy them to Ukraine in the coming days, according to Reuters.
The GLSDB, a joint project of Boeing and SAAB AB, combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb with the M26 rocket motor, creating a weapon with a range of about 100 miles (161 kilometers).
The Biden administration previously sent an undisclosed number of GLSDB units to Kiev, but sources told Reuters that Ukrainian forces stopped using the bomb against Russia months ago, after it proved ineffective last year.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities had rendered Western precision-guided munitions – including GLSDB and GPS-guided Excalibur artillery shells – “useless.” Reportedly, some of these weapons were retired within weeks of deployment due to scrambled guidance systems.
Kiev began using ATACMS missiles to strike internationally recognized Russian territory in the autumn of 2024, particularly targeting the border regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, and Rostov. However, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the stockpile was completely depleted by late January.
Moscow has consistently warned the U.S. and its allies against allowing Ukraine to conduct long-range strikes, arguing that such attacks would implicate NATO directly in the conflict because Kiev relies on Western-supplied weapons.
Following Ukraine’s initial ATACMS strikes in November of the previous year, Russia launched its new hypersonic Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile at the Yuzhmash military-industrial facility in Dnepr, Ukraine.
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