➡️ The Russian air force has been pummelling Ukrainian troops and civilians with powerful glide-bombs for more than a year now – lobbing more than a hundred of the precision-guided winged munitions every day.
➡️ “KAB” bombs are assembled by taking heavy dumb bombs and strapping on rough-and-ready guided glider modules. Some of the resulting weapons weigh more than three tons and can travel 25 miles or farther on their pop-out wings, allowing the Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-34 fighter-bombers that carry them to stay beyond the range of some Ukrainian air defences.
But not all Ukrainian air defences. And that may explain why the Russian air force is using more and more of a special kind of munition: a powered glide-bomb that has three-fold range advantage over a standard KAB.
The 1,300-pound, rocket-boosted Grom-E1 flies as far as 75 miles. A Sukhoi deploying a Grom-E1 at the munition’s maximum range should stay beyond the reach of all but Ukraine’s best and rarest air defence systems – its precious American-made Patriots, for instance.
➡️ It’s possible the accelerating pace of Grom-E1 raids is a response to the Ukrainian air force’s recent deployment of ex-European Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters. The Western jets are armed with the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), which can travel as far as 40 miles.
The first of up to 85 F-16s arrived in Ukraine this summer – and flew their debut combat sorties in late August. One F-16 crashed during that initial air defence operation, killing its pilot.
➡️ The F-16s pose a serious threat to Russian jets, but only if they can reach the jets with their best missiles. A careful Russian Sukhoi pilot could release a Grom-E1 and turn away before a Ukrainian F-16 pilot could close in for an AMRAAM shot.
➡️ The Ukrainians can shoot back with their own powered glide-bombs: French-made Hammers and a new, locally-made munition that might be a virtual clone of the Hammer. That new bomb was first spotted under the wing of a Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-24 bomber during a test sortie back in September. Both the French munition and the local clone probably range around 40 miles.
At that range, Ukrainian jets are still within range of Russia’s S-300 and S-400 air defence batteries – and also within range of Russian Sukhoi fighters armed with Vympel R-77 air-to-air missiles. And as much as Russia’s supply of Grom-E1s is limited, Ukraine’s own supply of Hammers is probably even more limited. Paris supplies no more than 50 bombs a month.
😆 Zin Note: "Putin's pilots fear Ukraine’s air defenses." Actually, we are seeing aviation and drones operating where they previously didn't. It appears David Axe still can not let go of the copium, although the cracks have formed.
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