The Saab and Boeing team have commenced a renewed push to sell its new long-range precision weapon system, called the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB).

According to a news release put out by Saab on 22 March, the defense team has together developed the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) – the rocket artillery munition designed to meet the evolving needs of the armed forces.

With a range of 150 km, the ability to hit targets across a wide area, and a precision so high it can hit the target within a radius of one meter.

Ground forces all over the globe are facing missions that require greater range than ever before. Saab has together with Boeing developed the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), as the solution for these requirements. The Ground-Launched guided munition offers high precision together with a long range.

The Small Diameter Bomb I (SDB I) is the warhead of the GLSDB. The SDB is a well-proven precision-guided glide bomb that has been in production since 2006. More than 20 000 SDB have been produced and 10 000 used in combat. It is well known for high accuracy and reliability. SDB has users all over the world, including the U.S. Air Force, the Norwegian Air Force, and thirteen other countries.

GLSDB leverages the investment made by these Air Forces and provides a low cost capability for land forces. The SDB family of warheads provides a variety of ground launched solutions, with current variants for moving/re-locatable targets and ultra-low collateral damage. The SDB capability roadmap also provides for operations in GPS-denied environments, area attack and engaging energy emitting targets.

“The GLSDB is the ultimate solution for a customer that is looking for an affordable, high precision and long range solution”, says Svein Daae, head of marketing of GLSDB at Saab.

The GLSDB provides:

• Increased range
• Accuracy to within one metre
• All angle, all aspect attack – even targets behind the launch point
• Multiple rockets to act against multiple targets, with near simultaneous impact
• All weather, 24/7 capability
• Terrain avoidance, such as mountains
• Cave breaching capability
• Launches from hidden or protected positions to avoid detection
• Programmable fuze for impact and delay fuzing for deep penetration or proximity height-of-burst
• SDB Focused Lethality Munition (FLM) variant is also an option for low collateral damage
• Laser SDB variant provides moving target capability

Since the original version of SDB was an air-to-surface-solution, all necessary technology such as the navigation system lies within the bomb. The SDB navigates towards the target with INS Navigation that is supported by a highly jamming resistance GPS. Since the system does not need a ballistic path toward the target it is possible to launch the GLSDB from a container, and engage targets 360 degrees without moving the launcher. Besides this, any launcher capable of using the MLRS Launch pod container, may also be used (M270, HIMARS, CHUNMOO).

GLSDB has the ability to fly non-ballistic trajectories and maneuvers to strike targets that cannot be reached by conventional direct fire weapons, such as withreverse slope engagement. GLSDB offers land forces a truly mobile capability to hit targets that before have been out of their range. The system is Saab’s and Boeing’s solution for the needs of armed forces today and tomorrow.