Delivery of long-range missiles to Ukraine originally slated for spring of this year has been pushed back to 2024, according to reports.
The US was first approached by Boeing to buy and ship Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) to Kyiv last fall with the most optimistic timeline for shipping seeing them arrive just a few months later.
According to Reuters, sources familiar with the issue now say delivery to the US from Boeing will take place this month but several months of testing are required before they can be shipped on to Ukraine.
A Pentagon spokesman said: “We anticipate providing this key capability in the early 2024 timeframe after successful verification.”
The decision to send the long-range rocket whoch has a range of nearly 100-mile (160km), followed a proposal last summer from Boeing Co (BA.N) to US commanders in Europe managing weapons for Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.
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Comments ( 1)
The information that the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) was planned to be provided last spring is incorrect.
The USA decided last spring to procure and deliver the GLSDB to Ukraine. None existed at the time as the GLSDB had only been developed (using existing main components) and tested; but was never put into production.
The question in the spring was did the USA pay an expedited fee to be able to deliver the GLSDB in an estimated 3 months, or to use normal and lower cost ramp up and deliver the GLSDB in an estimated 6 months. Obviously the USA decided to use a normal process contract for the production of the GLSDB.
I had been expecting delivery starting in October. Now the US Pentagon says more testing is needed (but production is in process).