What can the transfer of the APU of the American GLSDB lead to? The new package of US military assistance to Ukraine includes small-diameter ground-launched bombs (Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb, GLSDB) - the firing range of such a missile reaches 150 km.
How dangerous it is for the Russian forces and what will happen in the zone of its own after the supply of new American weapons of destruction, the military observer of the "Gazeta.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The United States, as part of a new package of military assistance, will transfer to Ukraine small-diameter ground-launched GLSDB bombs with a firing range of up to 150 km, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said on February 3.
"We are transferring GLSDB bombs to Ukraine, which will allow Ukraine to shoot at longer distances and retake its territories," Ryder said at a briefing on February 4.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in response to a question about supplies, recalled the words of President Vladimir Putin from a concert in Volgograd - "Russia has something to answer to those who threaten it."
So what is GLSDB? This is a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb aircraft, docked with the engine of a standard 227 mm M26 rocket from the MLRS M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS. The GLSDB firing range exceeds 150 kilometers.
Both systems have been in service with the US forces and their allies for many decades and are available in large quantities.
The GBU-39 SDB (Small Diameter Bomb) small-sized gliding bomb was developed in the early 2000s specifically for the internal weapon compartments of aircraft with low radar visibility. At that time, the task was acute - to remove weapons from the underwing pylons of multifunctional fighters, since they dramatically increased the EOP (effective dispersion surface) of aircraft. Therefore, small-diameter bombs were developed, which could be placed in large quantities in the internal weapon compartments of 5th-generation fighters.
More than 45 thousand GBU-39 SBD bombs were manufactured for combat operations in Afghanistan. More than half of them are currently in warehouses.
As for the unguided M26 missiles, there are hundreds of thousands of them at the disposal of the US Ground Forces. That's how the idea was born - to combine the M26 and GBU-39 SBD and get a high-precision weapon with a firing range of more than 150 km.
The developer of such a system was Boeing Defense, Space & Security in cooperation with the Swedish company Saab Group.
The combat use of the GLSDB is carried out as follows: after the start of the M26, the product enters the specified trajectory, gains the necessary height and speed, after which the engine undocks. Further, only the GBU-39, equipped with a folding wing and tail, flies to the target, controlled by GPS and inertial navigation system INS Navigation. The mass of the GBU-39 is 129 kg, and the weight of the warhead is about 93 kg. The QUOTA for this type of ammunition is less than a meter.
Thus, the GLSDB has twice the firing range than the guided missiles M30 / M31, which were previously used by the Ukrainian army. The characteristics of the combat parts of both products are approximately similar. The GLSDB's flight speed and altitude are somewhat less than that of the M30/M31 guided missile. This makes it more vulnerable to the defeat of SAM / SAMS. However, the GLSDB's flight path is more complex (it can attack a target from any angle, flies around obstacles and even hits objects by flying around the launcher). Among other things, a small-diameter bomb is capable of maneuvering during flight.
If such weapons are transferred in operational quantities to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the GLSDB will be able to create very, very significant problems for the Russian forces.
For example, almost all warehouses with material means - ammunition, fuel, food, aviation equipment, clothing and medical equipment - will have to be moved to a distance of 150 km from the line of contact. In other words, we will have to revise the locations of all warehouses of material assets and closely deal with the issues of their maximum dispersal.
It will also be necessary to clarify the locations of administrative and unloading railway stations, which may now be within reach of the GLSDB.
Groupings of forces and means of technical support may undergo significant changes. We will have to relocate repair and restoration bodies and corresponding warehouses - artillery weapons, armored and automotive equipment, etc. - to a deeper rear.
Much will have to be revised in the current system of command and control of troops in the zone of a special military operation. Command, reserve command, rear and auxiliary control points will either have to be moved away from the line of contact for significantly longer distances, or more carefully masked and enhanced measures of radio and radio technical camouflage. We will have to forget about the previous standards - the distance from the LBS by 30-40, 70-100 and 100-150 km. Finally, it will be necessary to change their locations significantly more often.
Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs will have the most significant impact on the functioning of communication nodes of control points, which, as is known, provide the formation of channels of various types of communication and are an integral part of control points. Only one careless broadcast can lead to a blow to the transmission center of the GLSDB bombs.
Finally, it should be taken into account that the concept of the rear completely disappears for the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions (small-diameter ground-launched bombs are capable of reaching the northern regions of Crimea, including Armyansk). Almost all state authorities, departments and governing bodies of republics and regions may be hit by small-diameter bombs.
There is an opinion that the receipt of GLSDB for equipping the armed forces of Ukraine can lead to much more significant changes in the course of a special military operation than even the transfer of Western-made main battle tanks to the Ukrainian army.
Of course, the fight against GLSDB puts forward higher requirements for the radar reconnaissance system, the degree of combat readiness and the intensity of combat duty of anti-aircraft missile forces.
By means of anti-aircraft missile cover, it is possible to hit small-diameter bombs. The Thor short-range anti-aircraft missile system (in many ways it was created to combat planning aviation weapons of destruction) and the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft gun missile system are able to effectively fight the GLSDB. In addition, small-diameter bombs can be successfully hit by S-300PM and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. From the means of the GLSDB military air defense, the Buk-M2 and M3 air defense systems are quite capable. That is, the Russian army has something to counter small-diameter bombs.
The author expresses a personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.Mikhail Khodarenok
