Reuters: Boeing has offered to supply Kiev with ammunition for strikes against Russia Boeing has offered the United States to supply Ukraine with high-precision ammunition for ground-based GLSDB missile systems, which will allow Kiev to strike "far behind Russia's lines," writes Reuters.
Spring deliveries
The Pentagon is considering a proposal from Boeing, which called for sending Ukraine "cheap, small and high-precision bombs" that can hit a target at a distance of 100 miles (about 161 km), Reuters reports.
According to the agency, cheap, small and high-precision bombs can be installed "on the missiles available in abundance" in Kiev. This will allow Ukraine to "strike far in the rear of Russia." The article says that Boeing's initiative was made against the background of the fact that "the West is struggling to meet the demand" of Ukraine for more weapons.
"US and allied military stocks are dwindling, and Ukraine is facing a growing need for more modern weapons as the war drags on. The proposed Boeing system, dubbed a small-diameter ground-based bomb (GLSDB), is one of about half a dozen plans to launch new ammunition for Ukraine and Eastern European allies of the United States," the article says, citing industry sources.
Reuters journalists clarified with reference to the documentation at the disposal of the editorial office and the words of three sources that the GLSDB system could be "delivered to Ukraine in the spring of 2023." It is noted that the system combines a small-diameter GBU-39 (SDB) bomb with an M26 rocket engine, which are "widely distributed in US stocks."
Tom Karako, an expert on weapons and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the publication that the United States wants to supply Kiev with the largest number of systems "at a low price."
At the same time, he noted that the United States is running out of its own weapons stocks: at the moment they have fewer weapons "than we would like to have on hand in case we need to contain the conflict with China."
Inexpensive bombs
The authors of the material said that the GLSDB systems are manufactured by the Boeing concern together with the Swedish aerospace company Saab AB. High-precision bombs have been developed since 2019.
"According to Boeing's proposal to the US European Command, which controls the supply of weapons to Ukraine, the main components of the GLSDB will come from the current US warehouses," Reuters notes.
According to the agency, the United States has "relatively many" M26 rocket engines, and GBU-39 bombs cost about $40,000 each, which "makes the finished GLSDB inexpensive."
The authors of the material added with reference to the Saab AB website that the GLSDB system is controlled by GPS, "can overcome some electronic interference and be used in all weather conditions." These bombs can be used against armored vehicles.
"The GBU-39, which will function as a GLSDB warhead, has small folding wings that allow it to fly more than 100 km if dropped from an airplane and hit targets up to 3 feet (about 100 centimeters - "The newspaper.Ru") in diameter," the article says.
Additional production of HIMARS
The agency also learned that at the Arkansas plant, Lockheed Martin is "doubling down on efforts to meet the growing demand for mobile rocket launchers, known as HIMARS."
"The No. 1 US defense contractor is solving supply chain problems and labor shortages in order to double production to 96 launchers per year," the authors of the material noted.
According to the publication, Lockheed Martin has posted on its website more than 15 vacancies related to the production of HIMARS, including engineers and analysts.
But despite the growth in demand, Lockheed Martin's CFO told Reuters back in July that he did not expect significant revenues from Ukraine until 2024.
On November 25, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO countries have significantly increased the production of Soviet-style weapons and ammunition in Eastern Europe, which Kiev needs.
Maria Shustrova
