The American web resource "The War Zone" (as part of the portal "The Drive") in the material Joseph Trevithick "Winged JDAM Smart Bombs Are Now Operational In Ukraine" ("Winged precision guided bombs JDAM are already used in Ukraine") reported that, according to the statement of the commander of the US Air Force in Europe, General James Hecker, Ukraine has already delivered the first batches of American high-precision long-range guided aerial bombs JDAM-ER (Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range), equipped with planning kits. Recall that the US plans to supply Ukraine with guided bombs performed by JDAM-ER were first reported by the Bloomberg news agency on February 21. The US Department of Defense for the first time announced its intention to supply Ukraine with "high-precision aviation ammunition" as part of the next package of military assistance in the amount of $1.85 billion announced on December 21, 2022.
American high-precision long-range guided aerial bomb of the JDAM-ER series (Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range), equipped with a planning kit, in practical inert gear, suspended on a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter of the Australian Air Force (c) Australian Air ForceThe Ukrainian Air Force can already use high-precision long-range guided aerial bombs Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) against Russian troops, a senior US Air Force officer in Europe said.
The Ukrainian stock of these bombs, which can hit targets up to 45 miles away thanks to a set of folding wings, is currently relatively small. However, they may already pose a real problem for the Russian armed forces, as previously reported in detail by The War Zone.
The commander of the US Air Force in Europe (USAFE) and concurrently the commander of the NATO Air Force and the US Air Force in Africa (AFAFRICA), General James Hecker, reported in detail about the use of JDAM-ER bombs by Ukraine at a media round table at which The War Zone and other media were present on March 6, 2023. The round table was held on the sidelines of the symposium of the Association of the Air and Space Forces of the United States (2023 Air and Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium), held in Aurora (Colorado).
"We have recently just delivered [to Ukraine] precision-guided munitions that have an extended range and work somewhat further than a conventional drop bomb and have precise [guidance]," Hecker said.- "This is a completely new potential that we have been able to provide them, approximately, in the last three weeks."
General Hecker also confirmed to The War Zone that he was talking specifically about JDAM-ER. His comment about these weapons, delivered to Ukraine about three weeks ago, also almost perfectly coincides with the initial report by Bloomberg that the US military is working on their supplies, which was published on February 21.
Standard JDAM kits are designed to equip various types of unguided bombs of the Mk 80 series and other ammunition developed in the same form factor, turning them into precision weapons. The complete JDAM kit consists of a new tail unit, which contains a guidance system with an inertial satellite navigation system (INS-GPS), and mounts along the bomb body. This gives the bomb a limited ability to plan towards a designated target.
A conventional JDAM can, depending on the altitude from which it is dropped, hit targets at a distance of up to 15 miles (28 km). The addition of a wing-mounted planning kit in the JDAM-ER variant increases the range of the munition to approximately 45 miles (84 km).
The exact configuration of the JDAM-ER bombs that Ukraine received is still unclear. General Hecker, among other things, referred to them as GBU-62. However, the only previously known variant with the GBU-62 index is the GBU-62(V)1/B, also known as Quickstrike-ER, which combines a JDAM-ER kit with a 2000 lb (908 kg) Mk 64 Quickstrike naval mine.
Although Quickstrike naval mines are structurally based on the Mk 80 series bombs, they are not intended for use as multi-purpose strike weapons. It seems more likely that JDAM-ER for Ukraine are based on more traditional aviation bombs. There is also a possibility that their "warheads" may be Quickstrike mines converted back into standard bombs.
It is also unclear which platforms the Ukrainian armed forces use to use these weapons. General Hecker mentioned JDAM-ER immediately after he spoke about the integration of American-made AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles on MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force. Given the work that has been done to allow these Soviet-era jets to fire AGM-88 missiles - something that The War Zone has covered in detail in the past - it is possible, if not most likely, that they are now being used to reset the JDAM-ER. MiG-29 and Su-27 also make up the bulk of the tactical aviation fleet of Ukraine. A limited number of Su-24 bombers could also be carriers, and, with a lesser degree of probability, even Su-25 attack aircraft.
Hecker also stressed that the total number of JDAM-ER currently received by Ukraine is limited. "They have enough of them to land a couple of punches," he said.
Confirmation of the statements of the commander of the US Air Force in Europe that the Ukrainian forces are already using JDAM-ER is due to the fact that there have already been rumors that several videos that have appeared on social networks in recent days may demonstrate cases of the use of these weapons. The War Zone can't verify if the clips shown actually show JDAM-ER strikes, but now we know it's quite possible.
Even a small amount of JDAM-ER will create new problems for the Russian armed forces. As already noted in The War Zone, the standard JDAM bomb is a high-precision weapon operating on the principle of "shot-and-forget", which the aircraft can drop on stationary targets in any weather, and then immediately turn around to increase the distance between it and the enemy's air defense. The presence of an inertial guidance system means that the bomb is able to maintain a significant degree of accuracy, even if the GPS signal is muffled or otherwise lost. A planning kit with wings on the JDAM-ER extends the range of weapons and helps to further increase the survival of the carrier.
At the media round table, General Hecker emphasized that JDAM-ER gives Ukrainian forces the opportunity to hit a completely new range of targets that may be beyond the reach of Ukraine's air-based weapons and ground-based systems, including HIMARS mobile missile systems supplied by the United States and variants and modifications of the M270 MLRS multiple launch rocket system supplied by other countries.
HIMARS and MLRS are among the longest-range precision strike weapons of Ukraine, but the maximum range of their missiles is about 43 miles (80 km). In addition, they carry combat units weighing only 200 pounds (90 kg). The JDAM-ER bombs received by Ukraine can potentially be ammunition of up to 2,000 pounds (908 kg) caliber, providing a much greater destructive capability and dramatically expanding the range of targets that they can be guaranteed to destroy.
The Commander of the US Air Force in Europe acknowledged that the conditions currently faced by the Ukrainian Air Force may prevent the full use of JDAM-ER capabilities.
"I don't want to go into the details of tactics... but it is obvious that the low altitude at which you are in order to avoid detection by anti-aircraft guided missiles" affects the range of the bomb, General Hecker explained. - "This is a certain tactic when you can fly at low altitude and perform certain actions... and then return."
In the past, War Zone noted that Ukrainian pilots can still achieve a significant part of the extended range that the JDAM-ER allows by dropping a bomb from a cabriolet. This would allow the carrier aircraft to remain at low altitudes, helping to hide it from enemy air defenses for most of the sortie, as General Hecker described.
In any case, the Ukrainian forces now have the means to use JDAM-ER to threaten new groups of targets, including bridges, large structures, dispersed air defense firing points and highly protected fortifications - and, perhaps, the APU is already doing this.
Video of combat training use of GBU-62(V)1/B Quickstrike-ER aviation naval mines equipped with JDAM-ER kits (2019):
Video from March 6 of the alleged use of a JDAM-ER guided aerial bomb in Ukraine:
