Russia’s new guided bomb causing devastation and heavy casualties on the Ukrainian war front

Russia is using an improved version of its FAB-1500 guided bombs on the warfront Ukraine which causes great devastation. This new element in the conflict shows that the arms industry in the country governed by Vladimir Putin It is not seriously decimated, as one might think two years after the start of the invasion and after the application of harsh economic sanctions by the United States and its allies.

According to the CNN news network, the FAB-1500 It was a simple and old weapon from the Soviet era, which it is now a guided glide bomb that can cause a 15 meter wide crater and massive destruction. Deployable wings were also added to the device.

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O FAB-1500 It weighs 1.5 tons, almost half of which are high explosives.

They are launched by fighter planes at a distance of about 60 to 70 kilometers, outside the range of many Ukrainian air defenses, CNN says.

A FAB-1500 bomb. (Russian Ministry of Defense).

Its use was noted in the recent fight for the city of Krasnogorivkabelonging to the oblast of Donetsk (region controlled by Russia), where the Russians took the city “more aggressively and using air force resources, such as the FAB-1500″, indicated CNN.

“Before they only bombarded us with artillerynow the orcs [rusos] “They took the city more aggressively and started using Air Force assets, mainly the FAB-1500,” an Air Force soldier told CNN. 46th Ukrainian Separate Airmobile Brigade.

“Why are they using the FAB-1500? Because the damage caused is very serious. “If you survive, you are not free from a concussion,” he added.

“Puts a lot of pressure on soldiers’ morale. Not all of our men can resist. Although they are more or less accustomed to the FAB-500 (its predecessor without gliding capabilities), the current FAB-1500 is hell,” continued the soldier.

Newsweek reported that it has spotted images circulating online that appear to show a bomb hitting a multi-story building in Krasnogorivkawhich is on the front line of the war in eastern Ukraine.

????????⚔️???????? Russian FAB-1500 air strike on Krasnohorivka. Let us remember that the pathetic amount of F-16s that were promised to Ukraine has not yet arrived. pic.twitter.com/Vai0WXVzfg

-Astraia Intel (@astraiaintel) March 7, 2024

“Epic images of a direct impact from a FAB-1500 against a target Krasnohorivka,” a Russian military blogger said over the weekend, Newsweek noted.

CNN also stated that recent videos about Donetsk illustrated the immense power of these bombs when hitting thermal power plants, factories and apartment buildings; locations from which Ukrainians coordinate their defenses.

Joseph Trevithick, who wrote about the development of the bomb FAB-1500 for TheWarZone, says that “they offer a new and much more destructive ranged attack option for many of today’s tactical aircraft. Russia, “They also help pilots stay further away from enemy defenses.”

“These weapons have a significant morale effect, and the tremendous explosions are seen and heard over a wide area,” military expert David Hambling told Newsweek.

The expert confirmed that these glide bombs allow Russian attack aircraft to “hit ground targets with high precision” without the risk of Ukrainian air defense missiles destroying the ships. “The current version has accuracy greater than 10 meters, which practically guarantees the destruction of the target with a weapon the size of the FAB-1500,” he said.

The FAB-1500 may not be a revolutionary weapon, Hambling argued, but it “does real damage.”

For her part, Marina Mirón, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Newsweek: “It is not the fact that they are very destructive that makes them effective, but the new correction module that is updated recently to ensure accuracy.”

A FAB-1500 bomb attached to a Russian warplane. (Video capture).

The bomb FAB-1500 It is the largest of the Soviet-era FAB series, which also includes the FAB-250 and FAB-500.

According to El Español, in recent months engineers have been working on a glide system that significantly increases tactical capabilities of the pump. Work is being carried out at an industrial complex near Moscow.

According to Newsweek, Russia has improved these unguided munitions with a kit known as UMPKwhat adds planning and guidance to “dumb” bombs, turning them into “smart” weapons.

After some trial and error exercises, in September of the year the first bomb FAB-1500 accurately found its combat target with direct impact, reported Global Security. Thus, the last major test has been completed before receiving the green light for mass production and commissioning. Now Russia has a cheap, modern bomb in its arsenal.

In January of this year, El Español indicates, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoiguvisited one of the largest weapons assembly plants in Moscow, where he was shown the slide system developed for the bomb FAB-1500.

Through a video published by the Ministry of Defense, the company that improves them highlighted the manufacture of high-precision ammunition that converted old free-fall bombs and any type of active guidance system into weapons that would fly towards their target.

O FAB-1500 It is 2.76 meters long, 63 centimeters in diameter and weighs 1,500 kilos. When it hits its target, it can form a crater 15 meters in diameter and move fragments about 500 meters.

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft taxis on a runway during an air show at the Teknofest festival at Istanbul Ataturk Airport on September 17, 2019. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL/AFP). (YASIN AKGUL/)

The bomb is anchored under the wing of aircraft such as the Su-34M fighter-bomber or the Su-35C multi-purpose fighter-bomber. and is launched at the indicated location. The maximum deployment altitude is 12,000 meters and its initial glide speed largely depends on the aircraft, although it can reach 1,900 km/h, already in supersonic terrain, states El Español.

Video capture posted on the official Telegram account of Denis Pushilin, head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region appointed by Moscow, on February 24, 2024. (AFP). (FLYER/)

CNN details that the bombs FAB-1500 were used massively in the destruction of Ukrainian defenses in Avdiivkawhich fell into Russian hands in February.

The location of Avdiivka. (AFP).

Yuri IhnatAir Force spokesman Ukrainetold CNN that “on the eve and during the battle of Avdiivka, hundreds of aerial bombs were dropped within days. There were 250 of them used at the Avdiivka address in just 48 hours.”

Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told CNN that “while manufacturing glider kits is a bottleneck, the basic explosives package is something that (the Russians) have in large quantities.”

Now, CNN indicates, The Russians have too heavy a fire force to put pressure on Ukrainian fixed defenses, increasing enemy casualties, although insufficient to radically change the front lines.

“This is not a cheap or quick transformation, but it is still much less than the millions of dollars a missile costs. “It’s pennies compared to a missile,” Ihnat told CNN.

Source: Elcomercio