Russia is reportedly deploying several different types of glide bombs in Ukraine ahead of an anticipated srping offensive according to emerging reports.
Glide bombs have reportedly caused problems for Ukraine , “this is a really serious threat. We need to think about neutralizing it now,” said Alexander Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military analyst, when asked if the glide bombs risked jeopardizing Kyiv’s anticipated counteroffensive.
Glide bombs are, essentially, conventional bombs that have been fitted with navigation systems and wings. Some have this flying capacity built-in during production, while others are modified subsequently.
The additions mean that glide bombs can travel much further and are much more precise than unguided — or “dumb” — bombs.
Russia is reportedly deploying several different types of glide bombs in Ukraine, including modified FAB-500s with an attached wing and navigation kit.
Part of what makes glide bombs so threatening, analysts said, is that they can be released by Russian planes from well outside the range of Ukraine’s air defenses.
“They can be used by the Russian Armed Forces without entering the area of our air defense systems and strike both the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front line and the [nearby] cities,” Kovalenko said.
The winged bombs are also much cheaper to produce than Russia’s ballistic and cruise missiles.
“These are no mini-drones or even drones carrying 40 kilograms. Guys, these are deadly one-and-a-half tons of the real deal,” pro-Kremlin military blogger Alexander Sladkov wrote.
in early April, Ukrainian military spokesperson Yuriy Ignat said the bombs posed a serious threat and estimated that Russia was dropping up to 20 per day.
Ukraine is likely hesitant to use its limited stocks of expensive surface-to-air missiles on these comparatively inexpensive bombs, according to an open-source researcher monitoring the war.
“One of the things that it does is put further pressure on the Ukrainian air defense grid,” said the researcher.
“They are either unable or unwilling for essentially economic reasons to shoot these down.”
The cost of each missile fired by air defense systems like the Western-supplied Patriot and NASAM can reach into the millions of U.S. dollars.
