Ukraine could be armed with 150km strike weapon as weapon makers wrestle with demand

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small precision bombs fitted onto abundantly available rockets, allowing Kyiv to strike far behind Russian lines as the West struggles to meet demand for more arms.

Mr Doug Bush, the US Army’s chief weapons buyer, told reporters at the Pentagon last week the Army was also looking at accelerating production of 155mm artillery shells - currently only manufactured at government facilities - by allowing defence contractors to build them. Mr Karako also noted that the US exit from Afghanistan left lots of air-dropped bombs available. They cannot be easily used with Ukrainian aircraft, but “in today’s context we should be looking for innovative ways to convert them to standoff capability”.

Although the United States has rebuffed requests for the 297km range ATACMS missile, the GLSDB’s 150km range would allow Ukraine to hit valuable military targets that have been out of reach and help it continue pressing its counterattacks by disrupting Russian rear areas. The M26 rocket motor is relatively abundant, and the GBU-39 costs about US$40,000 each, making the completed GLSDB inexpensive and its main components readily available. Although arms manufacturers are struggling with demand, those factors make it possible to yield weapons by early 2023, albeit at a low rate of production.

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