ANALYSIS – Or at least, less dumb bombs. Even as Ukraine deploys longer-range kamikaze drones against Moscow, the extensive deployment by Russia of low-tech glide bombs in the ongoing Ukraine conflict has become a major concern for Ukrainian forces.
Early this year, Russia introduced guided bombs – essentially regular gravity bombs modified with wings and likely some sort of satellite GPS guidance systems – dropped by multirole fighters from safe distances to provide precise and damaging strikes in front-line areas and beyond.
Along with the specifically designed sophisticated smart munitions, Russia has been using a modified version of their simple and dumb FAB-500M-62 500kg (roughly 1,100 pounds, or half a ton) air dropped bombs that it has in vast numbers.
It poses an especially serious threat to Ukraine. By turning simple bombs into guided ones, Russia is unfolding a tactical weapon that is much cheaper, more massive and more effective than cruise and ballistic missiles, the stockpile of which is largely depleted now, according to the Kyiv Independent.
While some observers have compared these improved dumb bombs to America's devastatingly precise Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), they are far from that.
Still, this wing and guidance kit fitted to the widely available general-purpose dumb bomb used by the Russian Aerospace Forces is causing Kyiv serious headaches.
The reported designation for these modified weapons is Universalnaya Modul Planirovaniya i Korrektsi (UMPK), or “universal gliding and correction module.”
As The Drive reported:
The first official statement from the Ukrainian side appeared on April 4, 2023, when Yurii Ihnat, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, said that the Russians were dropping “up to 20 gliding bombs a day.” Ihnat continued: “They launch them from Su-35 Flanker and Su-34 Fullback aircraft, which do not enter our air defense zone.” Since then, there have been repeated statements from Ukrainian officials reflecting on the difficulty of intercepting these weapons, which have been described as “almost impossible to shoot down.”
Russia officially confirmed the use of such bombs in a May 8, 2023, communiqué in which it stated that “a Su-34 fighter-bomber with UMPK module bombs struck a location of foreign mercenaries near the village of Ivanovka near Kharkiv.”
The wing kits allow for Russian aircraft to launch indirect attacks on targets that would otherwise put them at to great of risk to do so directly due to Ukraine ever-evolving anti-aircraft defenses. Otherwise, much more expensive and complex standoff weaponry would need to be used and Russia's limited supply of these weapons has been put under extreme pressure by the prolonged war effort.
The increased standoff range is especially important to the Russian pilots who can now launch winged-bomb attacks from miles away, increasing their survivability.
Employed in more significant numbers by Russia, Ukraine is being forced to move more air defense systems – including medium- and long-range ones – closer to the front to try to down the glide bombs, if not the aircraft launching them.
This, in turn, makes the Ukrainian air defense systems more vulnerable to Russian forces geolocating them and hitting them with Lancets, which I wrote about earlier, and other loitering munitions, drones or air-launched anti-radiation missiles.
And Ukraine's supply of air defense systems is limited and dwindling. Even with NATO donations of new surface to air weapons, most in Kyiv's stockpile are still Soviet-era.
On a brighter note, one online analysis of the UMPK, reportedly conducted anonymously by an employee of a Russian company, suggests they have poor performance and a high failure rate.
According to this source, since the added weight of these modified FAB-500M-62 bombs exceeds the load capacity of most Russian aircraft weapons pylons (1,102 pounds), the bomb could detach while the aircraft is maneuvering.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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