Kyiv will receive guided aerial bombs that will "enable Ukraine to strike back" at Russia after Moscow's own modified ones shattered targets across the Ukrainian front line.
Newsweek understands that the Paveway IV is part of the package of 1,600 munitions that the U.K. promised to Kyiv earlier this week. It is not clear how many of the precision-guided bombs will make their way to Ukraine, nor when they will arrive.
The British government said on Tuesday it would commit its largest-ever tranche of military aid to Ukraine as part of a package worth £500 million ($622 million). The assistance will include further deliveries of Storm Shadow air-launched, precision-guided missiles, as well as vessels and vehicles.
The Paveway IV—the latest in the Paveway series of bombs—converts unguided munitions, also known as "dumb bombs," into precision-guided weapons. They can use laser guidance or satellites to find their way to a target.
The weapons have been used by British fighter jets in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Britain's Royal Air Force used Paveway IV bombs fired from Typhoon jets to attack two military sites belonging to Houthi rebels in Yemen in January 2024.
Ukraine is already using the GPS-guided JDAMs, or Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and their longer-range versions, against Russian forces. Moscow has made extensive use of its own dumb bombs-turned-precision weapons to bombard Ukrainian targets, launched from outside of the range of Ukraine's air defenses.
Russia has transformed a host of its stockpile of unguided, Soviet-era bombs into accurate and powerful munitions that have cascaded down along the front line in eastern Ukraine. Some converted "dumb bombs" have been upgraded with guidance kits, while others have also been modified with glide kits and pop-out wings.
"The Paveway IV will enable Ukraine to strike back" at Russian forces and target high-value assets such as command centers and Moscow's air defenses, military expert David Hambling told Newsweek.
"Effective anti-aircraft systems on both sides have greatly reduced the impact of tactical airpower," Hambling said. "This is why planes need longer-range weapons like the Paveway IV so they can strike from outside the danger zone."
The U.K. has also pledged additional air-launched long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
The U.K. aid comes as the U.S. gives the greenlight to a substantial new military aid package to Ukraine, after more than $60 billion in assistance spent months ensnared in Congress. President Joe Biden rubberstamped the package on Wednesday, and the Pentagon announced a $1 billion tranche of aid to cover Ukraine's "most urgent requirements."
"The key now is speed," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday, after stressing that long-range capabilities are one of Kyiv's top priorities.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
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