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Report: US to supply Ukraine with longer-range GLSDB missiles; Company offers Reaper drones for $1 [1]

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Date: 2023-01-31  

An MQ-9 reaper drone. The ones being offered to Ukraine are older models.

There was disappointment when the last US aid package for Ukraine was announced and it didn’t include the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), which is basically a HIMARS rocket with about twice the range.

GLSDB is a relatively new system that combines two existing systems — the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with the M26 rocket motor. Its range is 150 kilometers, which brings all of Russian-occupied Ukraine except for southern Crimea into range.

The explanation at the time was that the GLSDB, as a new weapon, would have to be funded through USAI, a bureaucratic hurdle.

Well, the problems have apparently been worked out.

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The United States is readying more than $2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two U.S. officials briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The weapons aid is expected to be announced as soon as this week, the officials said. It is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons, they added. One of the officials said a portion of the package, expected to be $1.725 billion, would come from a fund known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows President Joe Biden's administration to get weapons from industry rather than from existing U.S. weapons stocks. The USAI funds would go toward the purchase of a new weapon, the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) made by Boeing Co (BA.N), which have a range of 94 miles (150 km). The United States has rebuffed Ukraine's requests for the 185-mile (297-km) range ATACMS missile.

The new package still does not include the ATACMS missile system.

---------------------------------—

Another new weapon might finally be finding its way to Ukraine.

x General Atomics is offering to sell 🇺🇦 2 Reaper MQ-9 for one dollar.

But deal would also require 🇺🇦 to spend about $10mln to prepare and ship the aircraft to Ukraine, and about $8mln each year for maintenance and sustainment of the older model drones - WSJhttps://t.co/z0TPCzxIHv pic.twitter.com/pLr18M3BIK — Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) January 31, 2023

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/31/2150416/-Report-US-to-supply-Ukraine-with-longer-range-GLSDB-missiles-Company-offers-Reaper-drones-for-1

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