[Goose]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/eu-ukraine-wa...57316.html

I am really concerned about the following from the article:

"If weapon (supplies) are accelerated, specifically long- range weapons, not only will we not abandon Bakhmut but we will also begin to remove the occupiers from the Donbas (region of eastern Ukraine), occupied since 2014," Zelenskiy said.

The U.S. military aid announced on Friday included rockets known as Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), whose 151 km (94 mile) range would put all of Russia's supply lines in eastern Ukraine within reach, as well as part of the Crimea peninsula, also seized by Moscow in 2014.

The GLSDB would be a great weapon in lots of ways for use by any military. It is relatively "cheap". However, I fear it just isn't ready for large scale deployment anytime soon, and the idea that it is going to get to Ukraine in the next two months or so seems far-feteched at best, fanciful at worst.

We would be relying on a weapon that nobody has ever bought. We would be relying on the idea that Boeing and Saab have already built enough of them on their own dime to supply a major combatant in a major war. These missiles admittedly can't yet be launched from a HIMARS/M270 and will require an as-of-now unspecified "new launcher" or the development of software for the HIMARS (and associated testing). This whole thing is just "too good to be true". It allows the Administration to theoretically get some of the benefits of ATACMS without going back on their categorical statement that we would not supply ATACMS to Ukraine. That's great if it can actually happen, but I don't see how that is possible. Now is not the time to deal in wishful thinking. We need to stay grounded in reality.

[Goose]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/eu-ukraine-wa...57316.html

I am really concerned about the following from the article:

"If weapon (supplies) are accelerated, specifically long- range weapons, not only will we not abandon Bakhmut but we will also begin to remove the occupiers from the Donbas (region of eastern Ukraine), occupied since 2014," Zelenskiy said.

The U.S. military aid announced on Friday included rockets known as Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), whose 151 km (94 mile) range would put all of Russia's supply lines in eastern Ukraine within reach, as well as part of the Crimea peninsula, also seized by Moscow in 2014.

The GLSDB would be a great weapon in lots of ways for use by any military. It is relatively "cheap". However, I fear it just isn't ready for large scale deployment anytime soon, and the idea that it is going to get to Ukraine in the next two months or so seems far-feteched at best, fanciful at worst.

We would be relying on a weapon that nobody has ever bought. We would be relying on the idea that Boeing and Saab have already built enough of them on their own dime to supply a major combatant in a major war. These missiles admittedly can't yet be launched from a HIMARS/M270 and will require an as-of-now unspecified "new launcher" or the development of software for the HIMARS (and associated testing). This whole thing is just "too good to be true". It allows the Administration to theoretically get some of the benefits of ATACMS without going back on their categorical statement that we would not supply ATACMS to Ukraine. That's great if it can actually happen, but I don't see how that is possible. Now is not the time to deal in wishful thinking. We need to stay grounded in reality.