2024-03-12 13:18:44
Russia has started using devastating aerial bombs, against which Ukrainian ground defenses are difficult to defend against. The FAB-1500 gliding bomb decimated Ukrainian forces and tipped the balance on the hundreds of kilometers of front line that stretches from the south to the northeast of Ukraine, the CNN server writes.
The Russians add wings to “dumb” bombs. Interventions against Ukrainians are devastating. | Video: Associated Press
These glide bombs have a guidance system and retractable wings that allow them to glide to their target. After impact, it will create a crater of up to 15 meters. The modernized FAB-1500 is based on a family of “dumb” bombs from the days of the Soviet Union, and according to CNN, Russia is now turning them into an effective version at a factory near Moscow.
“It’s not a cheap and quick conversion, but it’s fundamentally cheaper than the millions of dollars that (new modern) missiles cost. Compared to them, it’s a pittance,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat admitted to CNN about the distinct advantage of the previously stupid bomb. In addition, the one-and-a-half-ton bomb is launched by fighter jets from a distance of 60 to 70 kilometers behind the front line, i.e. beyond the reach of Ukrainian air defense systems.
According to CNN, the power of these bombs is illustrated by recent videos from eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Russia used them against static targets such as power plants, factories or apartment buildings that Ukrainians use to coordinate their defenses. “For many, Russian tactical aircraft offer a new and much more devastating ambush option because, among other things, pilots can stay away from enemy defenses,” said Joseph Trevithick of the specialist website TheWarZone.
“Why are they using the FAB-1500? Because it does serious damage. If you survive it, you’re guaranteed to have scars,” one soldier of Ukraine’s 46th Independent Airborne Brigade, which is deployed in the city of Krasnohorivka, told CNN last week. According to him, these attacks have a bad effect on the morale of Ukrainians. Just as the Russians used to intensively destroy Ukrainian positions with artillery, now, according to CNN, they are using a seemingly inexhaustible supply of these devastating bombs so that the Ukrainians have nothing to defend and nowhere to hide.
The use of the FAB-1500 became a decisive element of the Russian offensive, especially in the destruction of Ukrainian defenses in and around Avdijivka. The city, which is completely devastated, fell into the hands of Russian troops in February. Justin Bronk of The Royal United Services Institute in London says that “while making the gliders is more treacherous, the basic explosive is something they have in huge quantities”.
Russian military bloggers started talking about the weapon last September, when it was being tested for accuracy. The Fighterbomber Telegram channel noted that “after many months of trial and error” the FAB-1500 bomb “accurately” hit its “combat target” for the first time. He also stated that the FAB-1500 is accurate to within five meters. Within weeks, both Ukrainian and Russian sources spoke of the use of a massive bomb in Kherson in the south and Kharkiv in the north.
The Russian planes that drop these bombs are not invulnerable. The Ukrainian Air Force claims to have shot down several Su-34 fighters in recent weeks. However, most Ukrainian air defenses do not have the range to engage aircraft approximately 70 kilometers away.
Bronk argues that the development of glide bombs provided the Russians with a way to more effectively use their tactical air force (as opposed to long-range bombers) after its limited role in the first phase of the war. According to him, the American anti-aircraft complex Patriot is the only effective defense, but the Ukrainians have a limited number of them combined with a lack of ammunition.
Analysis: “They ignored our warnings.” Russian fighters are falling at a tremendous rate. (Whole article with video HERE)
The Ukrainians shot down American Patriots and a Su-34 fighter-bomber near the village of Djakove in the Luhansk region. | Video: Aktuálně.cz/X/Ukrainian front, Aktuálně.cz/X/Blackrussian