Several F-16s would drive Russians away from areas where they drop guided bombs – expert

Defense Express Editor-in-Chief Oleh Katkov said this on Espreso TV. 

“Why did the Russians switch to using guided bombs? They are cheaper than missiles. When we talk about ammunition, it is specially designed to be cheap and mass-produced. The fact that mass use has begun indicates that mass production has been established. This kit is attached to a conventional 500 kg bomb, so they have a huge number of such bombs,” he said.

Katkov added that judging by the remains, there is nothing high-tech there – most likely, there is conventional satellite navigation and flight control equipment for this munition.

“The drop radius is 70 km. This allows enemy aircraft to stay out of range of Ukrainian SAMs and drop not only at contact line, but 20 km further. The Buk air defense system has a range of up to 30 km. In such circumstances, the S-300 would be in the artillery's range. These KAB-bombs are relatively accurate (tens of meters), but they are a 500-kilogram high explosive bomb. The situation can hypothetically be changed by Patriot, which has a range of 150-160 kilometers. But these batteries will become the number one target in the frontline zone. Everything will go there,” the expert emphasized.

Katkov answered the question of how to deal with these bombs.

“It's called a 4th generation fighter – F-16 or any other. Only they can drive enemy aircraft away from the lines of the drops. Now the situation is such that they can do everything with impunity. We need fighters with long-range air-to-air missiles. Even the threat of a few F-16s with these missiles will drive the Russians away from the lines of dropping their glider bombs,” he summarized.