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US readies $2 billion-plus Ukraine aid package with longer-range weapons
EURACTIV.com with Reuters

1 Feb 2023
The Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) made jointly by Boeing Co and SAAB, have a range of 94 miles (150 km). 
     
The US$2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine is include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons it is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision-guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons,.

The USAI funds would go toward the purchase of a new weapon, the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) made by Boeing Co, which have a range of 94 miles (150 km). The US has rebuffed Ukraine’s requests for the 185-mile (297-km) range ATACMS missile.

The longer range of the GLSDB glide bomb could allow Ukraine to hit targets that have been out of reach and help it continue pressing its counterattacks by disrupting Russia further behind its lines.

Reuters first reported on Boeing’s proposal to field GLSDB for Ukraine in November. At the time it was expected GLSDB could be in Ukraine by spring.

GLSDB is made jointly by SAAB AB and Boeing. It combines the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor, both of which are common in US inventories.

GLSDB is GPS-guided, can defeat some electronic jamming, is usable in all weather conditions, and can be used against armored vehicles, according to SAAB’s website. The GBU-39 – which would function as the GLSDB’s warhead – has small, folding wings that allow it to glide more than 100km if dropped from an aircraft and hit targets as small as 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-...e-weapons/

"We will fight as long as we can," he said According to Zelensky, Russia will soon launch a major offensive in the east and northeast, targeting cities like Bakhmut and Lyman. Ukrainian intelligence on Feb. 2 issued a stark warning. Putin redeploying additional assault groups and military equipment to capture Donbas – comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts – by March.

"Russia wants revenge, this revenge exactly where they really need it," Zelensky said. "Our task is not to give them all opportunity until our army is strengthened with appropriate weapons. I think we have a chance." this war again to test Ukraine folks well into year to come. 

Russian forces appeared to be picking up pace in the northern part of Donetsk Oblast after capturing the salt-mining town of Soledar, which sits roughly 15 kilometers northeast of Bakhmut.Moscow claimed to be inching closer to encircling Bakhmut, a largely-destroyed city that it has sought to capture since Summer despite heavy casualties.

"If there is a long-range weapon, the most long-range weapon, we will not only not leave Bakhmut, we will begin to liberate the Donbas (including areas) which have been occupied since 2014," Zelensky said.