Instead of cruise missiles. Russian bombs

Russia has improved Soviet heavy aerial bombs, equipping them with planning and precision targeting modules and making relatively inexpensive replacements for guided cruise missiles.

Russian glide bombs threatened strategic heights around Chasov Yar and the Avdeevka area in the Donetsk region. The use of gliding bombs by Russian aviation has been known since last year. Initially it was reported that the ammunition was created on the basis of the FAB-250 aerial bomb, which has been produced since the Soviet era. Initially developed as a free-fall bomb, when installed on it with a universal correction and planning module (UMPC), it can be dropped tens of kilometers from the target. This allows the bomber to attack ground targets without entering the range of air defense systems.

Soviet developments

This spring, there were reports of the Russian army using more powerful glide bombs, such as the FAB-500. And at the end of March, the Ukrainian and Western media wrote about a strike on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Ugledar with a volume-detonating one and a half ton air bomb ODAB-1500. Such bullets are classified as thermobaric; it creates a powerful shock wave that can penetrate shelters and even at a great distance cause contusions and barotrauma.

Hard to put down

Such bombs are difficult to shoot. As air defense experts say, you can’t shoot something that’s falling. In fact, this statement is true of what in army jargon is called “cast iron” – free-falling bombs, sometimes even artillery cannons. In the case of the gliding bullet, this is not entirely true – compared to an artillery shell, it is relatively large in size, has wings and stabilizers, and in new developments, a jet accelerator. That is, it is not a bomb, but a half bomb, half rocket; at the very least, it flies, which means it can theoretically be shot. But it’s very difficult.

First of all, such a target does not stay in the air for long. Its initial speed is equal to the speed of a bomber, usually one and a half to two Mach, it is possible that it has an accelerator, therefore, it covers a distance of 60 km to the target in a minute or two. Hard to see on radar screens. It can maneuver a little – not, of course, like a cruise missile or drone, but considering the first two factors, this is a serious additional problem for air defense. Perhaps it can interfere – in any case, nothing prevents developers from implementing such a module.

Large stock

The probability of hitting such a complex target with an anti-missile missile is low; many of them are needed, and not the simplest ones. Considering that Russia has a large stock of aerial bombs that can be converted to glide bombs, spending expensive anti-missiles on them is not only expensive, but also dangerous. If the Ukrainian air defense has a shortage of ammunition, the Russian aviation can occupy the airspace and start dropping conventional, free-falling bombs, this will be a disaster for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.