2024-09-24 08:28:31
This weapon has been terrorizing Ukrainian soldiers and civilians for several months and has also become one of the reasons. why the Russians began to do better on the eastern front. The attacked country decided to turn it now against the Russian aggressor. As revealed by a video shot from a fighter jet, the Ukrainians are testing a devastating gliding bomb of their own production.
A video shot by the Su-27 crew shows a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber carrying a prototype gliding munition under its wing. | Video: Aktuálně.cz/Telegram/Ukrainian Combat Air Force
Russian planes drop up to a hundred KAB glide bombs on Ukrainian troops and cities every day. These bombs, with a range of 40 kilometers, some of which weigh up to three tons, are among Russia’s most destructive weapons. According to the American website Forbes, the key factor in this year’s advance of Vladimir Putin’s troops in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainians also use glide bombs. They attack with American JDAM-ER bombs and French Hammers, but are clearly unhappy with the supplies. The French pledged to provide 50 bombs a month. This is too few to match the roughly three thousand KAB bombs that the Russians drop each month along the entire, more than thousand kilometer long front, even after counting the JDAM-ER bombs.
Russian FAB-1500 Gliding Bomb | Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian Air Force Brigadier General Serhiy Holubtsov announced in June that the country was developing a new gliding and guidance system that would convert Soviet-made unguided bombs into precision munitions. The test flight of the Su-24 bomber, which was captured on video, was an important step in the development of the new weapon.
With wings and a missile launcher located on the tail, the likely GPS-guided bomb looks similar to the Hammer. According to Forbes, it is possible that the Ukrainians actually copied the French weapon, with the range and accuracy of which they are apparently satisfied. Rapid launch of a solid-propellant rocket is how the quarter-ton Hammer can fly up to 65 kilometers away.
If Ukraine manages to start its own production, it could begin to catch up with the Russians in this regard. The new bomb would also join a growing portfolio of Ukrainian-made munitions. So far, this includes the Neptun cruise missile, the Palianytsia, which is something between a drone and a cruise missile, and a number of attack drones – including at least two remote-controlled sports aircraft models that can fly more than a thousand kilometers with an explosive.
According to Forbes, by developing and producing its own precision munitions, Ukraine gets rid of its complete dependence on unstable allies. In this way, he can bypass the restrictions on the use of Western weapons. In this case, the decisive factor is the American ban on launching precision ballistic missiles at targets in Russia, which include air bases from which machines with glide bombs under the wings take off.
If the Ukrainian gliding bomb passes all tests successfully, it can begin to be dropped on the aggressor by aircraft that today carry French and American bombs, including the Su-24, Su-27 and MiG-29, Forbes concludes.
“Significant.” Analysts warn of a new Russian weapon that tears armor for tens of meters. (Full article with video here)
This footage released by Russia shows a successful FAB-3000 bomb attack on Ukrainian positions | Video: Telegram/Ministry of Defense of Russia