Moscow is mass-producing the heaviest glide bomb, the one and a half ton FAB-1500-M54, media reports.
The Russian army began to actively use the FAB-1500-M54 gliding bomb. Moreover, according to Bild, the invaders modernized the one and a half ton ammunition and started its mass production.
“Monster Bomb”
So, according to the German publication, the last time the Russians dropped a FAB-1500-M54 on a multi-storey building in the city of Krasnogorovka near Donetsk. Russian propagandists filmed the explosion of the “monster bomb” from two different angles.
One of the recordings shows a bomb dropped on a residential area, falling and exploding, releasing a fireball 20 stories high.
In addition, as the media wrote, about 50 Ukrainian soldiers die at the front every day, most of them precisely because of the use of gliding bombs by the Russians, including the FAB-1500-M54.
The publication also notes that the head of the Ukrainian Air Force Nikolai Oleshchuk warned in November 2023 that in Russia there are “signs of preparation for the mass deployment of the FAB-1500.”
In February of this year, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reportedly visited the plant where these bombs were made. Then Russian propaganda said that their production had been going on since the beginning of the war.
The FAB-1500-M54 is an improved version of the KAB-1500 bomb, developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and used since the 1980s. The weight of the FAB-1500-M54 is 1550 kg, of which the weight of the warhead is 675 kg.
What is known about modernization
In the fall of 2023, the Russian military, the so-called military correspondents, reported that the Russian Federation established mass production of high-explosive fragmentation bombs FAB-1500 from UMPC. Propagandists claim that it took a long time to develop, but the first successful application was finally made.
In particular, according to the Russians, they had to redesign the UMPC from scratch for installation on the FAB-1500-M54 bomb, change the airframe and all mechanisms.
According to the Russian blogger Fighterbomber, the new UMPC kit created for the FAB-1500 showed a wider range than the UMPC applied to the smaller FAB-250 and FAB-500 bombs (the numbers indicate of their respective weight in kilograms).
In turn, the Ukrainian publication Defense Express noted that the confirmed range of these UMPK kits is from 60 to 65 km, and the maximum is expected to be about 70 or 80 kilometers.
Fighterbomber noted that the UMPC FAB-1500 is carried by the Su-34 tactical bomber, and that the latter can carry up to two bombs, and in the future will be able to carry three at once. At the same time, there is no data to confirm or refute such claims.
But given the latest Russian attacks, it appears to be true. Thus, the FAB-1500 became a new serious threat to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russian aircraft can safely drop them from a relatively long range, and Ukraine has limited measures.
Serious risk
As Defense Express notes, don’t forget that the FAB-1500-M54 is 675 kg of explosives. In addition, the Russians now have the opportunity to use bombs first, as previously this was impossible due to dense air defenses that did not allow Russian bombs to approach Ukrainian cities.
Today, glide bombs can be deployed beyond the range of most Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems, with the exception of Patriot and SAMP/T.
“Therefore, the only phase when the Russians did not hold and use large blunt bombs was during the blockade of Mariupol in 2022. The larger FAB-3000 from the Stalin era was deployed against the Ukrainian garrison and residents of city,” the publication added.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.