Russia's glide bombs devastating Ukraine's cities on the cheap

Re:Russia's glide bombs devastating Ukraine's cities on the ... by reese_john on Sunday May 19, 2024 @02:18PM (#40408733)

There is now the GLSDB (Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb) which is supposed to be a cheap, longish-range (~ 150 km) guided bomb built on top of the GBU-39 platform. It was developed by Boeing and Saab.

Ukraine has had it since earlier this year.

Apparently, it is not being as effective as one would've hoped though due to heavy Russian GPS jamming [1]

[0] https://www.saab.com/products/ground-launched-small-diameter...

[1] https://www.twz.com/land/have-ground-launched-small-diameter...

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Re:Russia's glide bombs devastating Ukraine's cities on the ... by dragonwriter on Sunday May 19, 2024 @02:24PM (#40408778)

GLSDB is, as the “Ground Launched” indicates, not the same thing as an aerial glide bomb, but is instead a warhead for GMLRS rockets fired from launchers like the HIMARS.’

EDIT: OTOH, its based on the SDB, which is a (small, 250lb) glide bomb with decent (40km) range whichthe US has currently only integrated the on the F-15E Strike Eagle, which Ukraine doesn’t have. There’s a long list of other potential future carriers envisioned by the US (including the F-16, which Ukraine will soon be operating), and integrating Western weapons with Soviet-design aircraft has been happening a fair amount in Ukraine, so if the problems affecting GLSDB were solved, SDB would be a real possibility for them, as well.

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