A Quick Strike extended range mine hangs from a B-52 on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as part of Valiant Shield 18, Sept. 16, 2018. (U.S. Air Force / Senior Airman Zachary Bumpus)
The United States has delivered Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) guided glide bombs to Ukraine, Chief of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), General James Hecker, revealed on March 8.
“Recently, we’ve just gotten some precision munitions [to Ukraine] that had some extended range and go a little bit further than the gravity drop bomb and has precision [guidance],” The War Zone quoted Gen. Hecker as saying at a symposium. “That’s a recent capability that we were able to give them probably in the last three weeks.”
The Pentagon announced sending “precision aerial munitions” to Ukraine as part of a $1.85 billion package last December.
The exact configuration of the JDAM-ERs that Ukraine received is still unclear. Gen. Gen. Hecker referred to them using the designation GBU-62. The only known variant of the GBU-62 appears to be the GBU-62(V)1/B Quickstrike-ER, which combines the JDAM-ER kit with the 2,000-pound [907-kg] class Mk 64 Quickstrike naval mine.
The JDAM-ER kit consists of a tail with a GPS-assisted inertial navigation guidance system and a pair of foldable wings that aid the bomb in gliding toward the designated target with a range of up to 80 kilometers.
The Quickstrike mines, which are based on the Mk 80-series bombs, are not intended for use as general-purpose strike weapons. Ukraine may have received a special variant with that ability.
The Ukrainian Air Force may have integrated the JDAM-ER on its Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets, just as it did before with the U.S.-made AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles.
Gen. Hecker said that the JDAM-ER would allow the Ukrainians to hit targets beyond the reach of their present air and ground-launched weapons, including the U.S.-supplied M142 HIMARS and the M270 MLRS supplied by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Norway and Italy. The glide bomb also packs a heavier warhead.
The USAFE chief acknowledged the presence of some operational conditions that might limit the bomb’s employability in battle.
In order to take full advantage of the JDAM-ER range, Ukrainian pilots will have to release them from high altitudes. However, this would leave them exposed to Russian fighter jets and air defense means. Long-range anti-aircraft missiles, like the R-37m that is carried by Su-35s and MiG-31s fighter jets and the 48N6 launched by the S-400 system, will be especially dangerous to Ukraine fighter jets climbing to release the bombs.
Furthermore, the JDAM-ER’s GPS-based guidance system will leave the bomb vulnerable to Russian electronic warfare means.
All in all, supplying Ukraine with the JDAM-ER represents a new escalation by the U.S. The Ukrainian Air Force could use the bombs to launch attacks on Russian territory. One of the main targets may be the Crimean Peninsula.
