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Ukraine is now using U.S.-supplied ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDB), which afford Kyiv's military enhanced capabilities compared to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday it had intercepted a Ukrainian GLSDB, along with 18 HIMARS multiple rocket launches. Both GLSDBs and HIMARS have been provided by the U.S. In a statement shared with state media, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry said Russia's air defenses had intercepted the "smart" bomb within the past 24 hours, without specifying further.
The statement from Russia's Defense Ministry suggests Ukraine is now making active use of the new weapons, pledged by the U.S. in early February 2023. The GLSDBs will give Ukraine a "longer-range capability," Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told the media on February 3.
They will allow Ukraine's fighters "to conduct operations in defense of their country and to take back their sovereign territory in Russian-occupied areas," Ryder added.
The GLSDB, made jointly by Boeing and Saab, has a range of around 94 miles, and retains its precision over these long distances, according to its manufacturers. The Small Diameter Bomb I, a precision munition launched by the system, has been in production since 2006.
"The more long-range our weapons are and the more mobile our troops are the sooner Russia's brutal aggression will end," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter as the GLSDBs were publicly confirmed.
The GLSDBs, crucially, furnished Ukraine with the range to be able to potentially strike Russian territory. The Kremlin hit back at the possibility of sending GLSDBs ahead of the aid being confirmed, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling it "extremely dangerous."
"It will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level," Peskov added in January.
The HIMARS, made by defense manufacturers Lockheed Martin, were promised by the U.S. in the summer of 2022. They can launch up to six GMLRS rockets, or one Army Tactical Missile System missile, which has a longer range, but has not been supplied to Ukraine by the U.S.
HIMARS were quickly hailed as making a difference on the battlefield after arriving in Ukraine in late June.
Ukraine's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, called the HIMARS "powerful tools," and Zelensky said in July that "HIMARS and other precision weapons are turning the course of war in our favor."
HIMARS were used against fixed Russian targets and command centers shortly after being delivered, Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, told the BBC in late August.
They have a shorter range than the GLSDB—around 50 miles—but this depends on the munitions used.
As of March 20, 2023, the U.S. has committed 38 HIMARS to Ukraine, plus associated ammunition. GLSDBs are not specified in the latest information.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more