During a recent Global Security Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), US Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante spoke about one type of long-range weaponry that the United States sent to Ukraine as part of defense assistance. LaPlante does not specify what this weapon is, but he states that it turned out to be ineffective and at the same time gives a detailed description of it.
"One company, I won't say who they are, they came up with a really cool idea of taking an air-to-ground weapon and doing a ground-launched version of it, and it would be a long-range fire weapon," the Under Secretary said.
Read more: Surprise for the Enemy: Ukraine Uses GLSDB in Combat for the First Time
But he notes that when this weapon was sent to Ukraine, it "did not work on the battlefield."
The statement was noted by The War Zone publication; the statement itself by LaPlante can be heard in the video below from 53:21.
The Under Secretary explains that they made this weapon "as quickly as they could."
"We said, look, just test for safety. Otherwise the operational testing will be non-cooperative with the russians," according to LaPlante. "And so then we sent it to Ukrainians."
After this weapon was ready, it was sent to Ukraine so that the Ukrainian military could have more opportunities to strike at russian occupying forces from a distance of over 140 km.
"It didn't work for multiple reasons, including the EMI electromagnetic interference environment, including just really ... doing it on the ground, the TTPs tactics, techniques, and procedures, the DOTML the doctrine, organization, training, and material – it just didn't work," LaPlante explained. "And what happens is, when you send something to people in the fight of their lives, [and] it doesn't work, they'll try it three times, and then they just throw it aside. So that's happened, too."
And although he doesn't specifically name what this weapon is, considering it's a ground-based version of air-to-ground weapon, and it's long-range weaponry, it's likely referring to the GLSDB, which is essentially a hybrid of the engine from the unguided M26 rocket projectile and the GBU-39/B glide bomb from Boeing and Saab. This weapon is not currently in the arsenal of the US military, and Ukraine became the first to test it in complex battlefield conditions.
Let's remind that the transfer of this weaponry was announced at the beginning of 2023 in one of the defense aid packages totaling $2.175 billion. Since then, the delivery dates for GLSDB to Ukraine have been shifted several times, and in 2024, remnants of this weaponry were displayed by the aggressors.
Despite the fact that this story does indeed look unpleasant, it is worth noting that so far there have been no official comments from the Pentagon or the Ukrainian side, nor any more detailed data regarding the use of GLSDB, to draw any more specific conclusions.
At the same time, the combat experience gained from using this weaponry could serve as a catalyst for both its further refinement and the exploration of new ways to more effectively deploy GLSDB on the battlefield.
Read more: Ukrainian Warriors Destroy Two russian 2C9 Nona-S Mortars with U.S. GLSDB (Video)
