The dropping of winged guided aerial bombs from aircraft hiding outside the range of Ukraine’s air defenses poses a new threat from the Russian military, according to Ukrainian Air Force Command spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat.
Speaking on Ukrainian national television on March 30, Inhat said hostile Russian aircraft dropped guided air bombs over the area that Ukraine’s air defense systems were unable to thwart, New Voice of Ukraine reported.
According to reports, ten Russian Su-35 jets attacked Sumy Oblast with 11 guided air bombs and a Kh-31P missile on March 24. Just four days later, the Russian military forces dropped an aerial bomb on Bilopillia in Sumy Oblast that evening on March 28.
“This is a new threat that has emerged before us… 500-kilogram bombs flying dozens of kilometers…” he said.
EurAsian Times had reported earlier this month that Russian military forces appeared to be using the FAB-500M-62 bomb, believed to be equipped with an aerial guidance kit called Modul Planirovaniya I Korrektsi (MPK), or “gliding and correction module.”
The enemy continues to bombard Bilopiliya in Sumy region.
Russia carried out an air strike with a guided aerial bomb. As a result of bombardment, a commercial building caught fire.
2 private houses and two-floor residential building were also damaged.1 person was injured. pic.twitter.com/ZG1WyyWKLR
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 28, 2023
A Russian media outlet called ‘Military Review’ shared images of an unexploded FAB-500 aerial bomb found on one of the streets of the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk. Early in January, a picture of what seemed to be a FAB-500M-62 bomb with a mystery wing kit added appeared online. The bomb was apparently put into a Russian Su-34 Fullback combat jet.
At the time, netizens compared the Russian weapon shown in the photograph to the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) family of precision-guided bombs that the US has given to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Russia has found a new trick. They have tens of thousands of these aerial bombs.
They just add wings, a rudder and GPS to them and, hey presto, they have dirt cheap gliding bombs.
Creative. pic.twitter.com/ARPjVYB6T6
— Make Peace Now; alternative news (@AlternatNews) March 25, 2023
Shortly after the Ukrainian military allegedly started using the US-supplied JDAM bomb on Russian-held positions in the Bakhmut region, reports of the Russian use of the FAB-500M-62 bomb with an aerial guidance kit surfaced.
On March 30, Yuri Inhat made a case for western fighter jets, citing the dangerous situation where Kyiv’s forces are unable to shoot these aerial bombs. He said what Ukraine needs at this juncture is a Western multirole jet fighter to combat this new Russian invasion strategy.
“Something needs to be done about this. Not only with air defense systems that we are waiting for but still to increase pressure and work with Western partners to create an aviation coalition and provide Ukraine with fighter jets.
On its part, Ukraine is already deploying the Ground-launched Small diameter bombs (GLSDB) against Russia that Moscow reportedly is already intercepting and shooting down.
Not just that, in a fresh development, Russian troops have reportedly shot down a Ukrainian ‘Grom-2’ or ‘Thunder-2′ for the first time in the ongoing conflict.
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