Russian Buk Shoots Down U.S.-made Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb in Ukraine

Russia’s Buk air defense systems (ADS) has shot down a U.S.- made  Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) fired by Ukrainian forces using a HIMARS launcher.

The GLSDB has a range of 140 km and was delivered to Ukraine to provide greater reach than the 70 km reach of the rockets fired from HIMARS.

On March 28, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov stated that Russian air defenses had intercepted a GLSDB for the first time during the special military operation.

"Initially the target was at an altitude of 15 kilometers flying at 550 meters per second. After the separation of the jet engine from the bomb itself the speed decreased significantly to 250 meters per second. At an altitude of 10 kilometers the bomb began to wiggle from side to side. I got the command to destroy that target. The target was successfully destroyed," the crew’s commander said on Russian state media.

The Buk crew had to its credit not only intercepted MLRS shells, but also enemy drones.

Earlier, in a conversation with TASS, Alexander Mikhailov, the head of the Bureau for Political and Military Analysis, expressed an opinion that the destruction of GLSDB missiles would be possible with Russia’s Tor-M2, Buk-M3 and S-350 short-and medium-range air defense missiles.

The Buk (NATO reporting name Gadfly) is a family of self-propelled air defense surface-to-air missile systems (SAM) for combating maneuvering aerodynamic targets at low and medium altitudes in conditions of intense radio jamming. The Buk-M1 - the earliest version of this SAM - was removed from service with the Russian army in 2011.

The GLSDB is a high-accuracy multiple-launch rocket system projectile developed jointly by the Swedish company Saab and U.S.-based Boeing corporation. It consists of a high-accuracy SDB airbomb and an upper stage from a MLRS projectile. The warhead is launched with the HIMARS or M270 MLRS. A total of six munitions can be placed on the launcher. Upon reaching the desired altitude the SDB separates from the jet stage and performs a controlled gliding flight to the target.