Russia will further upgrade its guided aerial bombs - military observer

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV. 

‘Over the past two years, since the first use of a free-fall bomb with a universal planning and correction module (UPCM), which allowed to turn a conventional bomb into a guided aerial bombs, they (Russian forces - ed.) have significantly improved their characteristics. It is the universal module for planning and correction, the bombs are still bombs, there is nothing new there, they have improved the UMPC indicators. These are better aerodynamic characteristics - a characteristic, slightly modified in general. And all of this influenced the fact that if in 2022 the Russians launched guided aerial bombs at a distance of up to 30 kilometres, now they are launching FAB-250 and FAB-500 bombs at 80 kilometres,’ he said. 

Oleksandr Kovalenko noted that the Russian forces may soon increase the range of the guided aerial bombs and reach other regional centres. 

‘The performance will be improved, that's the point. They continue to work on the UMPC, and I would not be surprised if by the end of the year they can reach the level of 100 kilometres - the range of the guided aerial bombs. And the most dangerous thing is that they are now trying to integrate jet boosters into their bombs, i.e. a kind of jet engine for an aircraft bomb, which will allow them to increase the flight distance to at least 150 kilometres. That is, this is a threat not only to cities and towns in the near rear zone, but to the rear zone in general. We are talking about Dnipro, Poltava, Odesa,’ the expert believes. 

In his opinion, the best way to fight against the guided aerial bombs is to shoot down the carriers, because it is impossible to intercept the bomb itself, the Russian forces have many of them, but fewer aircraft. 

‘The bomb cannot be intercepted, there is no air defense system that can guarantee interception of aircraft bombs - this is the first point. The second point is that Russia has tens of thousands of them. From those they inherited from the Soviet Union to those they are producing now - they have a bomb production facility. Therefore, they will not run out of bombs, while they have tens of thousands of bombs, less than a hundred carriers. The frontline bombers that make the most effective use of the guided aerial bombs are Su-34s, and they have less than a hundred of them. Therefore, hunting for Su-34s is more appropriate and effective than trying to shoot down or hunt for guided aerial bombs,’ he added.

• On September 23, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Volunteer Army ‘South’, spoke about modernized Russian bombs that are now reaching Zaporizhzhia.