2023-04-26 19:50:00
war in Ukraine
Putin’s air force is back – so deadly are the new, improvised glide bombs
The kit is raw welded together but works.
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Missions over Ukraine are dangerous for Russia’s pilots. Now they use glide bombs that find their way to the target on their own. With a cheap kit, old bombs can be converted into deadly precision weapons.
At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Air Force dominated the skies. But the rule did not last long, because the Russians never really managed to defeat the Ukrainian air defenses. At high altitudes, Putin’s planes were threatened by the S300 batteries. If they tried to hide from the long-range systems close to the ground, they came within the range of the Manpads, portable mini-missiles. The result was heavy losses of jets and combat helicopters. The Russians continued to use their air force, but never achieved full air supremacy. The operations had to be carefully planned and yet remained risky.
hit from afar
That has changed in the last few weeks. Since mid-March, Putin’s air force has been using glide bombs along the front. Glide bombs are released at high altitude, far from the target and beyond the range of Ukrainian air defenses, and then glide toward their target. Thanks to the controls, such precise hits are possible. Before the war, Russia neglected the issue. They wanted to save on the complex controls in the bombs and developed a dropping system that should make precise hits possible even with stupid bombs. That didn’t work as precisely as expected in Syria. Above all, the bombs had to be dropped close to the target and thus close to the enemy’s air defenses.
Russia did, however, have some precision-guided glide bombs, and in recent years has been developing particularly heavy variants. In addition, the Russians are upgrading old free-fall bombs with stub wings and controls. This conversion is technically easy, and similar systems have also been developed in the West that convert “dumb” bombs into precision weapons at low cost. Despite the sanctions, the Putin regime apparently managed to procure enough semiconductors for the control. For example, single-board computers from the US company Nvidia were found in Lancet-type kamikaze drones captured by Ukraine. Put simply, controlling a bomb is no more complex than controlling a small drone. The bomb brings 1000 kilograms of explosives to the target, the small drone only ten. The gliding kit should only cost the equivalent of around 24,000 euros, which is a fraction of what is spent on a cruise missile. In addition to the sizes of 500 and 1500 kilograms, even bombs of 3000 and 5000 kilograms are to be prepared for the program.
Insert along the front
The possible uses are limited, but still a threat to Ukraine. In order for the bombers to operate safely themselves, they must stay clear of Kiev’s air defenses. Due to the range of the bombs, they can only be used along the front line. Strikes deep in the Ukrainian hinterland, such as the attacks on the power supply, are therefore not possible.
However, things are changing in the embattled cities as the Russians are able to use heavy bombs against the Ukrainian defenders. They lose the protection of their fortifications. Armored and deep-lying bunkers cannot be destroyed by an artillery shell, a lesson learned as early as World War I. In such fortified shelters, the Ukrainian soldiers were safe – today they are no longer once their location was discovered. In addition, there is a peculiarity of the struggle for the cities. Here the defenders try to fortify large high-rise buildings. Observation posts and marksmen on the upper floors dominate the area with their field of fire. A strategy like in “Pavlov’s House” from the rat fight phase in Stalingrad.
The rest of the force, supplies and wounded are housed on the ground floor and in the basement. Artillery and cannon fire can temporarily dislodge the soldiers in the upper area, but will not destroy the fortress. Such a thing is possible with the TOS-1A missiles of the Russians, but their range is so short that they can be fought by the Ukrainians. A heavy and accurate bomb hit will result in the complete destruction of the floors hit and the death of all soldiers on them. The destructive effect is so great that the rest of the building collapses under its own rubble. The troops on the lower floors are buried in a huge cone of rubble. This is how the Russians want to bring down the cornerstones of Ukraine’s defenses.
End of the impregnable fortresses
Remedial action could be taken in two ways. Either the Ukrainians will be able to line up and shoot down the incoming bombs, or they will need very long-range air defense systems that the bombers can attack. If that doesn’t succeed, the picture of the battles for the cities will change. The Russians would then have found a way to weaken the fortified towns of the Ukrainian defense lines without great risk. The US fears that Kiev could run out of interceptor missiles for its Soviet-era systems in May, leaving air defenses with large gaps. The few western systems could not protect the country, so the area of use of the glide bombs would increase accordingly.
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