By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russian jamming prevented many of Ukraine’s relatively new long-range GLSDB bombs from reaching their targets, three people familiar with the challenges told Reuters.
Last year, Ukraine sought weapons with a longer range than the 69 km of US-supplied GMLRS rockets so that kyiv could attack and disrupt Russian supply lines and assembly points.
To answer this call, Boeing Co proposed to the Pentagon a new weapon with a range of 161 km, the ground-launched small diameter bomb (GLSDB). The glide bomb has small wings that extend its range, and it is composed of the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) and the M26 rocket motor, both common in U.S. inventories and relatively inexpensive.
But the GLSDB’s navigation system, which allows it to navigate around obstacles such as mountains and known air defenses, was targeted by Russian jamming, the three people briefed on the matter said.
While Boeing said the weapon could defeat some jamming, one of the sources said it would take months to repair.
Boeing and Ukrainian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bomb is jointly manufactured by SAAB AB and Boeing, and it was under development well before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Jamming occurs when huge amounts of energy are broadcast into an area, overwhelming a device’s signal. Russia has used this tactic on Ukrainian radios, drones and even GPS-guided Excalibur 155-millimeter artillery munitions.
Ukraine has been using GLSDBs since the beginning of the year and experts have noted that they do not perform well on the battlefield due to jamming.
Ukraine also uses short- and long-range tactical military missile systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 300 km.
Jamming on the battlefield in Ukraine is “simply a reality, and many weapon systems have had to deal with these and other countermeasures,” said Tom Karako, a weapons expert at the Center for strategic and international studies.
“Whether these challenges are in turn addressed by technical improvements or simply by alternative methods of employment, the utility of long-range lights will persist.”
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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