Ukraine may have used 'smart bomb' for the first time near Bakhmut
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Ukrainian media say the Ukrainian military possibly used the JDAM near the Kurdyumivka settlement.
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Two US F-15Es drop 2000-pound GBU-31s (JDAM)
Ukraine has possibly used for the first time since the beginning of the war a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), or a "smart bomb", near Bakhmut city, Ukrainian news outlet Strana.ua reported on Friday.
The JDAM was reported to have been used by the Ukrainian military forces near the Kurdyumivka settlement, the outlet said.
Yan Gagin, an advisor to the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), told Russian news agency TASS on March 10 that Ukrainian forces dropped a JDAM bomb on Kurdyumivka near the Bakhmut region of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to test the capability of Soviet-made war jets to deploy such bombs.
“These are air-launched bombs. Originally, they were made for NATO aircraft. Ukraine has no such aircraft. This could have been a combat test with a non-standard carrier. This can apply, in particular, to MiG-29 multirole fighters,” he said.
Huge Explosion!!!
— EurAsian Times (@THEEURASIATIMES) March 11, 2023
Video of Ukraine allegedly using U.S. donated JDAM High-precision Smart Bombs. #UkraineRussiaWar #Ukraine #Russia #US pic.twitter.com/07VvxxzB59
In December 2022, US media reports citing US officials stated that Ukraine is expected to be provided with advanced electronic equipment by the White House - to transform unmanned aerial munitions into high-precision "smart bombs" to use against Russia.
Read more: War in motion: Will new Western arms tip current balance in Ukraine?
Global positioning devices - or JDAM, as called by Pentagon - according to the report, would be part of the supply precision packages.
However, the officials did not disclose the exact weapons that would be used to be transformed into "smart bombs" or whether they would be deployed through air or ground-based munition.
Earlier in February, Pentagon announced that the new military package to Ukraine will include a new rocket-propelled precision bomb that may nearly increase Kiev's strike range against the Russians as part of a new $2.2 billion US arms aid for Ukraine.
JDAM-Extended Range (JDAM-ER), a weapon with a maximum range of 72 kilometers, would also be transferred to Ukraine, a Bloomberg report said.
The US also announced providing Kiev with GLSDBs, a gliding rocket with a small bomb attached, manufactured by Boeing and Saab. GLSDB is advertised to be so precise to hit a target within an error margin of a tire's radius at a maximum range of 150 kilometers.
