The Pentagon is considering a plan by Boeing (NYSE: BA) to provide Ukraine with cheap, small, precise bombs that can be placed on easily found rockets. This would let Kyiv attack far behind Russian lines while the West struggles to meet the demand for more weapons.
As the war drags on, the U.S. and its allies are getting less military equipment, and Ukraine needs more and better weapons. Industry sources say that Boeing’s proposed system, called the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), is one of about six ways to get new weapons made for Ukraine and the U.S.’s Eastern European allies.
According to a document that Reuters looked at and three people who know about the plan, GLSDB could be ready as early as spring 2023. It uses the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) and the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common U.S. weapons.
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Doug Bush, who is in charge of buying weapons for the U.S. Army, told reporters at the Pentagon last week that the Army was also considering letting defense contractors make 155-millimeter artillery shells, which are currently only made in government facilities. This would speed up production and save money.
The invasion of Ukraine increased the demand for weapons and ammunition made in the United States. Bush also said that U.S. allies in Eastern Europe are “putting in a lot of orders” for a wide range of arms as they help Ukraine.
Tom Karako, an expert on weapons and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “It’s about getting a lot for a low price.” He said that the rush to get more arms right now is partly because U.S. stockpiles are “getting low compared to the levels we like to keep on hand and certainly to the levels we’ll need to prevent a China conflict.”
Karako also said that when the U.S. left Afghanistan, a lot of bombs that had been dropped from the air were left behind. They are hard to use with Ukrainian planes, but “in the current situation, we should look for creative ways to turn them into standoff weapons.”
Even though a few GLSDB units have already been made, there are many logistical problems that make it hard to buy them officially. The Boeing plan needs a waiver for price discovery. This keeps the contractor from having to go through a thorough review that makes sure the Pentagon is getting the best deal possible. Any deal would also need at least six suppliers to speed up the shipping of their parts and services so that the weapon could be made quickly.
A Boeing representative didn’t want to say anything. Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman, a spokesman for the Pentagon, wouldn’t say anything about giving Ukraine “specific capabilities,” but he did say that the U.S. and its allies “identify and consider the most appropriate systems” that could help Kyiv.
Even though the U.S. has turned down requests for the 185-mile (297 km) range ATACMS missile, the 94-mile (150 km) range GLSDB missile would let Ukraine hit important military targets that have been out of reach and help it keep up its counterattacks by causing trouble in the back areas of Russia.
GLSDB is made by SAAB AB and Boeing Co. together. It has been in the works since 2019, which is a long time before the invasion, which Russia calls a “special operation.” Micael Johansson, the CEO of SAAB, said in October about the GLSDB, “We are expecting contracts on that very soon.”
The document is a proposal from Boeing to the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), which is in charge of the weapons going to Ukraine. It says that the main components of the GLSDB would come from U.S. stores.
Since there are a lot of M26 rocket motors and each GBU-39 costs about $40,000, the GLSDB as a whole is cheap, and its main parts are easy to find. Even though arms makers are having trouble keeping up with demand, these factors mean that weapons could be made by early 2023, even if only at a slow rate.
SAAB’s website says that GLSDB is guided by GPS, can get around some electronic jamming, can be used in any weather, and can be used against armoured vehicles. The GBU-39, which would be the GLSDB’s warhead, has small, foldable wings that let it glide more than 100 km if dropped from an aeroplane and hit targets as small as 3 feet in diameter.
INDUSTRY MOTIVATION
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is working harder at a plant in rural Arkansas to keep up with rising demand for mobile rocket launchers called HIMARS. These have been used successfully to hit Russian supply lines, command posts, and even individual tanks. The top U.S. defence contractor is trying to double production to 96 launchers a year, but there are problems with the supply chain and a lack of workers.
Lockheed Martin’s website says that it has posted more than 15 jobs related to making HIMARS. Some of these jobs are for supply chain quality engineers, purchasing analysts, and testing engineers.
Becky Withrow, a sales leader at Lockheed Martin’s missile unit, said, “We’ve put money into the infrastructure of the factory where we make HIMARS.”
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Even though demand was going up, Lockheed Martin’s chief financial officer told Reuters in July that he didn’t think Ukraine would bring in a lot of money until 2024 or later. The CFO of Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) Corp., another major U.S. defence contractor, echoed that timeline in an interview with Reuters this summer.
Guided Multiple Rocket Launch System (GMLRS) rounds with 200-pound (90 kg) warheads are fired by HIMARS. These rounds are guided by GPS. About 4,600 of these missiles are made by Lockheed Martin each year. So far, more than 5,000 of them have been sent to Ukraine, according to an analysis by Reuters. The U.S. hasn’t said how many GMLRS rounds it has given to Ukraine.
It’s not a new idea for the military to find new ways to use old weapons. The NASAMS anti-aircraft system was made by Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace and Raytheon. It uses AIM-120 missiles, which were originally made for fighter jets to fire at other planes. The Joint-Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a common U.S. weapon. It is a standard, unguided bomb that has been given fins and a GPS system to help it find its target.