(Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday it had shot down a U.S.-supplied GLSDB guided smart bomb fired by Ukrainian forces, the first time Moscow has claimed to have intercepted one of the weapons that could double Ukraine’s battlefield firing range.
The Ground-launched Small Diameter Bomb is fired on a rocket and then glides to its target, guided by GPS satellite, at 150 km range, around double that of the U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that Kyiv deployed last year.
Ukraine had long sought the weapons to hit Russian command centres, supply lines and other targets deep behind the front line. Washington is thought to have begun supplying them this year.
The Russian statement said air defence forces had shot down the GLSDB within the last 24 hours, without saying where this had taken place.
Widespread deployment of the GLSDB could put far more of Russia’s supply lines in eastern Ukraine within striking distance, and force Moscow to move its supplies and ammunition depots further from the front lines.
Independent defence experts already credit the delivery of HIMARS to Ukraine last year as helping turn the tide of the war after Russia’s initial attempt at a blitzkrieg invasion failed.
(Reporting by Reuters)