The U.S. is providing Ukraine a long-range GPS-guided bomb made by Boeing that’s capable of hitting targets 45 miles away, industry officials said.
The Pentagon hasn’t formally acknowledged it’s sending the modified version of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munition, saying only it would send “precision aerial munitions” as part of a $1.85 billion package announced Dec. 21. But two people familiar with the matter confirmed the weapon is the Extended-Range JDAM, known as the JDAM-ER. They asked not to be identified because the detail hasn’t been announced.
Pentagon spokeswoman Kelly Flynn said the U.S. won’t identify the munition, citing operational security. JDAM kits are used by the Air Force and U.S. Navy and have been sold to over 26 countries.
The JDAM-ER can be bolted on unguided bombs ranging from 500 pounds to 2,000 pounds. Once dropped, the bomb deploys wings, allowing it to glide up to 45 miles and tripling the range of the original weapon. The Extended-Range JDAM was developed in cooperation with the Royal Australian Air Force.
The extended range kits “will significantly increase precision firepower using available stocks of munitions,” said Rebecca Grant, an Air Force systems specialist and president of IRIS Independent Research. “I’d bet this is one of the accelerated proposals put in motion” by Undersecretary for Acquisition William LaPlante, she said.
Extended Range kits can be used “to attack Russian front lines or their second echelon rear areas in Ukraine,” Grant said. “Watch for a spread of firepower, including JDAM-ER whenever Ukraine wants to push forward.”
Boeing on Jan. 20 received a $40.5 million order from the Air Force under an existing JDAM contract. The job calls for completion by June 30. The award indicates the U.S. and Ukraine have cobbled together a method by which Soviet-era fighter jets flown by Ukraine can program and launch the JDAM-ER.
The Extended Range JDAM joins Boeing’s new bomb-tipped missile, the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, that’s demonstrated a range of 81 miles among the new weapons the Pentagon’s sending Ukraine announced this month.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Dustin Mailloux, a 492nd Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load crew chief, inspects a Joint Direct Attack Munition during a quarterly load crew competition at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, July 1, 2021. (Koby Saunders/U.S. Air Force)
