Russia’s cheap and plentiful Soviet-era bombs retrofitted with microelectronics have wreaked havoc in Ukraine’s border towns and villages, leaving President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces with little opportunity to fight back.
Glide bombs are “general purpose bombs” that have been “repurposed into what Western countries define as “precision-guided munitions” by the installation of an add-on unified gliding and correction module,” says Federico Borsari, the Leonardo Fellow in Transatlantic Defence and Security at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) based in Washington, DC.
This module is a metal box that houses a guidance unit based on satellite navigation, and wings that flip out shortly after the weapon is released by an aircraft. It allows the bomb to glide towards pre-loaded geographical co-ordinates and strike its target at high speed.
The navigation system is resistant to being jammed and the bombs have a small radar signature, making them difficult to detect and intercept.
Microelectronics for the navigation system are produced by JSC Tactical Missile Corporation based in Russia, but Mr Borsari said it’s “highly possible” that some of the components come from both Western countries and China “as already shown by other weapons used by Russia, such as missiles”.
They are typically launched from aircraft – such as Su-34s or heavier Tu-22M3 bombers – which can given them a range of up to 49 miles (80km). Mr Borsari said they have been used against fixed targets such as buildings with devastating effect, with “additional casualties at long distances due to the fragmentation of the bomb’s metal casing”.
Russia is estimated to have in the realm of several hundred thousand of these bombs and can “continue to produce them quickly, cheaply, and at scale”, Mr Borsari said
“Their production is much cheaper (likely a few thousand dollars) and faster compared to missiles and at the moment, these bombs represent the most serious threat to Ukrainian forces close to the front lines due to their destructive power and the few counter-measures Ukraine has available.”
The rudimentary weapons have been used to devastating effect across Ukraine’s border towns and villages, where Russia’s bombers are able to launch attacks without leaving Russian airspace.
The bombs were reportedly first used in the protracted and bloody battle for Bakhmut, and have since been used in Avdiivka, Vovchansk and Kharkiv city, facilitated by a growing number of airfields inside Russia from which Russia’s air force can launch its attacks.
Their deadly effectiveness has seen the bombs dubbed a “miracle weapon” or “wonder weapon” by military commentators, given their plentiful supply and the fact they are cheap and quick to produce.
Defence commentator Michael Peck recently wrote for CEPA that while many of Russia’s “much-trumpeted wonder weapons have been a bust”, Vladimir Putin may have now found “found a wonder weapon that works.”
“The irony is it’s not really new. It turns out that old-fashioned dumb bombs have become Moscow’s most effective weapon,” he said. “Or, more accurately, Russia is using dumb bombs made smart via a satellite guidance kit.”
Ukraine’s ability to counter the threat from glide bombs has been severely hamstrung by the lack of fighter jets, long-range missiles and US policy which until recently prevented Ukraine’s armed forces from using US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russian territory. On 30 May, President Joe Biden reversed course on this, allowing US weapons to be used by Ukraine to strike at military targets inside Russia for “counter fire purposes” in the Kharkiv region only.
However George Barros, Russia team and geospatial intelligence team lead at the Institute for the Study of War said this previous US policy “effectively created a vast sanctuary” that allowed Russia to amass its forces and launch glide bombs and long-range strike weapons without setting foot in Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs more Patriot systems and interceptors, but no number of Patriot systems can protect Kharkiv city from the Russian glide bomb threat so long as the Russian air force can continue to use Russian airspace as a sanctuary and safe space,” he said.
President Zelensky said this month Russia is launching around 100 glide bombs a day against his country, with 3,200 used in May alone. His air force is also developing their own version which is expected to be tested in a few weeks.
“Today alone, Russia launched 135 gliding bombs, each weighing about a tonne. That’s a lot. No air defence system can cope with this. Comprehensive solutions are needed,” he said in a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in early June.
Mr Zelensky has also called for F-16 jets to counteract Russia’s superior fire power in the air. European supplied jets are due to arrive within weeks and it is expected they will help Ukraine intercept the bombs without venturing into Russian airspace.
However Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute has argued that the “glide bomb sorties will be very challenging to intercept regularly” as it will require Ukrainian pilots to fly very low in order to avoid detection and being shot down.
“For now, attacks on Russian airbases are Ukraine’s best way to limit the damage that the [Russian air force] VKS can do to its forces on the front lines,” he said.
Mr Borsari said while Ukraine has managed to shoot down some of these weapons in the past using Patriot and S-300PT air defence systems closer to the front line, this is risky for Ukraine’s already limited air defence arsenal.
“This is why using long-range one-way attack drones to attack airfields deeply into Russia remains critical for Ukraine,” he said.
“This is part of a strategy to relieve Ukrainian defences from a bit of pressure coming from glide bombs, by attacking the Russian tactical aviation fleet on the ground and forcing Moscow to deploy it further away from Ukraine.”