Pentagon Still Balking At Giving Long-Range Bombs To Ukraine

US Defense Department officials are raising concerns about a proposal to send Ukraine small precision-guided bombs that would allow Kyiv to strike Russian targets nearly 100 miles away, according to sources familiar with the debate, fearing that the timeline for deploying the weapons could take far too long, Jack Detsch reported for Foreign Policy.

Photo Insert: The Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB)

Under a plan proposed by the US weapons manufacturer Boeing and first reported by Reuters in November, the US could provide the so-called Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) to Ukraine.

The transfer, if completed, would give Ukraine weapons with twice the range of the precision munitions the US has already supplied for HIMARS batteries and would enable Ukraine to hit targets that have been out of reach for the duration of the war.

Ukraine has repeatedly pledged not to fire US- and NATO-provided weapons onto Russian soil in a move that American officials worry could escalate the war, a designation that does not apply to Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, such as Crimea.

But the Biden administration has balked at sending the US-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS—precision rounds that would give Ukraine the capability to hit Russian targets nearly 200 miles from the front lines—despite lobbying from some NATO allies.

However, Turkey has reportedly shipped long-range cluster bombs to Ukraine aside from missiles and armored personnel carriers (APCs), an action that has miffed Russian President Vladimir Putin.

These cluster bombs were jointly manufactured by the US and Turkey during the Cold War and each bomb contains 88 bomblets, making it conducive to deploy against troop concentrations, military headquarters, and tanks.

The US still has a stockpile of the bomb, which some Pentagon officials dubbed as “inaccurate.”

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic