[ワシントン ２８日 ロイター] – The Pentagon is considering Boeing’s offer to supply Ukraine with cheap, precision bombs mounted on rockets, which it has in abundance. With US and allied arms stocks shrinking and struggling to meet rising demand, the plan would allow Ukraine to strike well behind the Russian front.
Ukraine needs more sophisticated weapons as the war progresses. Industry sources said Boeing’s proposed system, called GLSDB (ground-launched small-diameter bomb), is part of a new munitions program for eastern European allies Ukraine and the United States.
The GLSDB could be introduced as early as spring 2023, according to documents seen by Reuters and three sources familiar with the plan. It combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are well stocked in the United States.
The United States denies calls for a 297 kilometer range ATACMS missile, but the 150 kilometer range GLSDB could allow Ukraine to reach key military targets that are so far out of reach and disrupt Russian rear areas.
GLSDB has been jointly developed and produced by Swedish defense and aerospace giant Saab and Boeing since 2019.
A Boeing spokesman declined to comment.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the provision of “special capabilities” to Ukraine, but said the US and its allies were “identifying and reviewing the most appropriate systems” to support Ukraine.
