The United States has pledged to give Ukraine a new type of precision glide bomb. New to Ukraine, that is.
Once the first Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOWs) arrive, Ukraine will have at least four different glide bomb types in its inventory. But variety of bombs isn’t Ukraine’s problem. The problem, as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 31st month, is quantity. Russian planes drop many, many more bombs than Ukrainian planes do.
An unspecified quantity of the 1,100-pound JSOWs is part of a massive, $8-billion aid package that US president Joe Biden announced on September 26. Biden was under time pressure to announce the package: more than $6 billion of the aid funding, belatedly approved by the US Congress back in April, was set to expire on September 30.
The GPS-guided JSOW, which is compatible with the roughly 85 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters Ukraine is getting from its European allies, ranges as far as 70 miles when released from high altitude. That makes the 1990s-vintage munition the farthest-flying of Ukraine’s glide bombs.
The 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range, a US-Australian munition, ranges 40 miles, as does the 750-pound Hammer, made in France. Ukraine has developed its own new glide bomb to complement its donated JDAM-ERs and Hammers. The Ukrainian bomb appears to be a rough copy of the French Hammer.
F-16s dropping JSOWs could strike Russian targets deep inside Russian-occupied Ukraine without flying into engagement range of Russian air defences. The White House bars Kyiv’s forces from using American-made munitions to strike inside Russia itself; there’s no sign Biden plans to lift that restriction ahead of the JSOW’s arrival.
Besides possessing greater range than the JDAM-ER, Hammer and Ukraine’s Hammer clone, the JSOW has another benefit: it’s available. Raytheon built thousands of the half-million-dollar bombs, mostly for the US Navy. The Navy is shifting to longer-range tactics using powered cruise missiles, so it could give away hundreds of the older glide bombs without jeopardizing its own war plans.
The United States has pledged to give Ukraine a new type of precision glide bomb. New to Ukraine, that is.
Once the first Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOWs) arrive, Ukraine will have at least four different glide bomb types in its inventory. But variety of bombs isn’t Ukraine’s problem. The problem, as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 31st month, is quantity. Russian planes drop many, many more bombs than Ukrainian planes do.
An unspecified quantity of the 1,100-pound JSOWs is part of a massive, $8-billion aid package that US president Joe Biden announced on September 26. Biden was under time pressure to announce the package: more than $6 billion of the aid funding, belatedly approved by the US Congress back in April, was set to expire on September 30.
The GPS-guided JSOW, which is compatible with the roughly 85 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters Ukraine is getting from its European allies, ranges as far as 70 miles when released from high altitude. That makes the 1990s-vintage munition the farthest-flying of Ukraine’s glide bombs.
The 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range, a US-Australian munition, ranges 40 miles, as does the 750-pound Hammer, made in France. Ukraine has developed its own new glide bomb to complement its donated JDAM-ERs and Hammers. The Ukrainian bomb appears to be a rough copy of the French Hammer.
F-16s dropping JSOWs could strike Russian targets deep inside Russian-occupied Ukraine without flying into engagement range of Russian air defences. The White House bars Kyiv’s forces from using American-made munitions to strike inside Russia itself; there’s no sign Biden plans to lift that restriction ahead of the JSOW’s arrival.
Besides possessing greater range than the JDAM-ER, Hammer and Ukraine’s Hammer clone, the JSOW has another benefit: it’s available. Raytheon built thousands of the half-million-dollar bombs, mostly for the US Navy. The Navy is shifting to longer-range tactics using powered cruise missiles, so it could give away hundreds of the older glide bombs without jeopardizing its own war plans.