Russian PGMs

With the introduction of the Su-34 added with the change in roles of the Tu-22M3, Tu-160 and Tu-95 the number and variety of very large guided bombs should greatly expand.
The Strategic forces are small enough and funded well enough to perhaps be able to afford to have sufficient numbers of these weapons to be bought and kept on hand for use.

bizon24

Garry, do you have any articles or links about the Sokol?

The information is from Russia’s Arms 2004. The article covers various gun tube fired rounds, though all the others mentioned use laser beam riding guidance. The Sokol stood out as its guidance was described as “optical”. It is a diving top attack missile that can home in on a laser designated target (if the target is well camouflaged) or completely passively for a contrasting target like a tank on its own or moving.

I will dig it out and give a better description later…

Fine you liked it. Yes, KAB-500S will be adopted by Russian VVS for Su-27SM, Su-27IB and upgraded Tu-160, according to images-captures from the article I didn’t copy-paste.

Well, I was right! I can add that Russia should develop also GLONASS guided versions of KAB-1500 bomb and UPAB-1500 rocked propelled glide bomb.It shouldn’t be too expensive but very effective.

No idea if there are improvement programs like IIR/TV/MMW, but you could guess, those would not enter anytime soon to Russian VVS. You said it, is a matter of cost, and those class of weapons are expensive. Maybe an upgraded wing-extension kit in the future…who knows…

Yes, but if KAB-500S accuracy is 5-10 m, it isn’t so important because JDAM-DAMASK possesses CEP=3m. Money should be spent on buying as many satellite guided bombs as possible adn equipping Russian aircrafts with GLONASS receivers. Then Russia will be able to withdraw from service all old laser and maybe TV guided bombs.

Thanks for informations about edefenseonline.com. Maybe I’ll become a subscriber of this web.

I have completely forgotten about my first thread. Thanks for remembering!

PS. I read somewhere that Putin ordered to build a new generation of Russian PGMs three years ago because of necessity of strikes against terrorist bases abroad. Now this weapon is fielded. So, what do you think: could VVS carry out some kind of such attack in the near future?

Rokosowsky,

Fine you liked it. Yes, KAB-500S will be adopted by Russian VVS for Su-27SM, Su-27IB and upgraded Tu-160, according to images-captures from the article I didn’t copy-paste.

No idea if there are improvement programs like IIR/TV/MMW, but you could guess, those would not enter anytime soon to Russian VVS. You said it, is a matter of cost, and those class of weapons are expensive. Maybe an upgraded wing-extension kit in the future…who knows…

I found the article in the files of www.edefenseonline.com, a nice journal about defense industry but an expensive one, this piece is just the “for free” version, you have to pay for seeing the whole thing.

BTW did you ever checked your old thread about Soviet Air Force in the 80s?

I posted several things there, maybe you could be interested…
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=47549

Regards

Thanks, Pit! As I see KAB-500S accuracy is better than its JDAM analogue, which has CEP=12m in basic version. But I think this type of smart bomb will be fielded also by RuAF. GPS bombs are very inexpensive weapon compared with other types of PGMs. So, it is very attractive weapon for Russia because of military budget shortcomings. Moreover Russia hasn’t got a lot of tactical PGMs now in its inventory. Russian laser and TV guided bombs are rather old and often inefficient. Of course, Russia can earn a lot of money on KAB-500S export because nobody, except US, offers GPS munitions merged with its own independent GPS-satellite constellation.

PS. Do you know anything about potential upgrades of KAB-500S? I mean some kind of terminal homing systems like IR, TV or MMV seekers.

Where did you find this article by Michal Fiszer?

Russian Guided-Bomb Trials Nearly Complete

by Michal Fiszer
Jul. 18, 2005

India and China are expected to be customers for the new KAB-500S Glonass/Navstar-guided bomb, state trials of which are nearing a successful conclusion, according to reports in the Russian press. The bomb was first dropped in February 2000, but it took five years to overcome all of the technical problems.

Unlike the US Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), the KAB-500S is a newly built bomb, not a modification kit for existing bombs (as the JDAM is). The KB-500S has a warhead equivalent to 500-kg high-explosive bomb. The new weapon was integrated by OAO MKB Kompas (Moscow, Russia), a design bureau and research institute. The same company developed the PSN-2001 receiver (PSN – Pribor Sputnikovoi Navigatsi, or a device for satellite navigation) that is mounted internally in the bomb and uses two separate antenna systems. The 24-channel PSN-2001 receiver can cooperate with Glonass or Navstar satellites and has an automatic switch from one system to another. The bomb can be dropped from altitudes between 500 m and 10,000 m at speeds of 550-1,100 kmph. The hit accuracy is claimed to be within 5-10 m.

Garry, do you have any articles or links about the Sokol?

I’d like to know something about Russian GPS guided bombs like KAB-500S-E. Do they really possess both US GPS and Russian GLONASS receivers? And if so, what accuracy they have? I read somewhere that GLONASS constellation isn’t in a full readiness yet.
Besides, does anybody know KAB-500S-Es are now in the Russian ****nal?

funny i found this in other forum

http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1129752823/last-1129775172/Russia%27s+PGMs+go+on+show

Do the Russian field any equivalent to Maverick/Infran imaging seeker?

The Kh-25 modular missile system is largely known in the west as AS-10 Karen when fitted with the laser homing seeker and AS-12 when fitted with an anti radiation homing seeker. There were TV and IIR seeker variants proposed but the RuAF didn’t fund development so they are options only. With improvements in elecronics and the reduction in costs of of various components is starting to reduce the costs so they are becoming more viable as a seeker option. The new Sokol 125mm tank gun fired ATGM for example is fitted with a CCD seeker that can be used with laser target marking equipment or it can autonomously engage contrasting targets in a fire and forget mode.

where’s the strategic cruise missile?
according to back issue of jane intelligent Review,during the arm limitation talk with then Soviet,soviet acknowledge that there cruise missiles ,unlike the tomahawk cruise missile,do not possess Digital scene matching correlator (DSMAC) ,accracy is limited to 24 meter CEP.good for nuclear attack,poor for pin point accuracy.
since then the russian istesting new gen. of cruise missile,is there any info on this missile,claim to match the accuracy of latest variant of tomahawk.

Thanks Darhn 😉

Nice info and input!

from JDW 18 Oct 2005

Russia’s PGMs go on show
ROBERT HEWSON Editor, Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons
Moscow
Arare glimpse into Russia’s airborne weapons development was provided in September during an air display to mark the 85th anniversary of the Valery Chkalov State Flight Test Centre.
Otherwise known as the 929 GLITs, the unit is based at the Akhtubinsk airbase in Russia’s North Caucasus Military District. The facility is one of two main flying centres for the NII-VVS – the Russian Federation Air Force’s (RFAF’s) scientific and technical institute – along with Chkalovskiy, situated east of Moscow.
A remote and once highly secret location situated between Volgograd and Astrakhan, Akhtubinsk combines the equivalent aircraft and systems test work undertaken by the US Air Force, for example, at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) with the weapons and tactics trials conducted at Eglin and Nellis AFBs. The Russian base was established in the 1920s and since 1960 all Russian aircraft and weapon systems, along with those for every export customer, have been tested at Akhtubinsk.
Of the weapons on display at the September event the UPAB-1500 rocket-boosted guided glide bomb attracted much attention. The UPAB-1500 (also known as the Izdeliye K-070) is a new Russian precision weapon designed to attack hardened targets, mountain caves and other such difficult sites. The 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) class bomb has been under development for several years, but its appearance at Akhtubinsk was a surprise. Sources within Russia have suggested that the bomb on display may have been a trials or practice round and not a full-scale 1,500 kg weapon. Its appearance at Akhtubinsk was not accompanied by any data or information and it may even have been shown to the public by mistake.
The fact that the bomb was painted in special markings for drop trials would seem to indicate that some level of testing is ongoing. It is possible that there is renewed impetus behind the UPAB-1500 programme, which has been developed by FSUE Region for both Russian and export needs. Its capabilities fall into the category of precision ‘anti-terrorist’ weapons that have been much recommended lately by President Putin.
Another new export weapon on display was Region’s LGB-250 laser-guided bomb. The LGB-250 is a 250 kg class weapon, which has not been commissioned by the RFAF. In 2003 Region said that the bomb would finish its design development that year, so flight-testing may have been under way for nearly two years and should be nearing completion. India and China have been suggested as potential customers.
Several other Russian precision-guided munitions (PGMs) were in evidence at Akhtubinsk. These included Region’s KAB-500S-E: a global navigation satellite system-guided weapon first revealed in 2003 and now undergoing airborne testing.
Alongside this bomb was SRPE Bazalt’s PBK-500U gliding submunitions dispenser, displayed in a new configuration incorporating the SPBE-D sensor-fused munition. Previously the SPBE-D had been associated with the RBK-500 free-fall cluster munition. The PBK-500U bomb has distinctive long-chord fins and has an inertial navigation system allowing it to glide accurately over a 40 km range. Bazalt has also developed a small jet-engine propulsion system to further boost the range of its dispenser munitions. In 2006 Bazalt said it will complete testing of the improved SPBE-K submunition. The earlier SPBE-D uses an infra-red sensor to detect tank and armoured vehicle engines. The new K variant has a radio frequency (RF) sensor that is effective out to 150 m with a look angle of 30º over the target area beneath it. Fifteen of these bomblets are carried by each dispenser.
In the GLITs aircraft line up an upgraded Su-24M2 was equipped with a Kh-59MK anti-ship missile. The newly produced Kh-59MK is a radar-guided, long-range variant of the basic Kh-59M (AS-18 ‘Kazoo’). It has been developed to arm China’s Su-30MK2 strike fighters, but its display with an Su-24 raises the possibility that it is being offered to other customers such as Algeria or Iran. A similar Su-24/Kh-59MK combination was also shown at the Moscow Air Show in August.
Among the less smart munitions was the latest version of the Bazalt ODAB-500 fuel-air explosive bomb. The ODAB-500PMV is designed for ‘low and slow’ employment by helicopters. Bazalt claims the 500 kg weapon delivers an explosive effect equivalent to a 1,000 kg high-explosive charge. Also in evidence was Bazalt’s RBK-500U anti-runway cluster weapon with its BETAB-M ‘stick grenade’ concrete-piercing submunitions.
Russia may also be working on a new range of guided rocket systems. Alongside an array of standard S-8 80 mm unguided rockets was one device that appeared to be a modification of an S-13 90 mm air-launched rocket. This was fitted with pop-out wings, for increased range, and a di-electric radome in the nose that may house a new RF seeker system. The status of this programme is unknown but large guided rockets are not new to Russian service. The latest development of the S-25 340 mm heavyweight rocket – a laser-guided variant of the penetrating warhead S-25OFM, designated S-25OPM-PU – was also shown at Akhtubinsk.

Hello

For the first time information about the developed version of rocket X -25M with thermal-vision GSN was represented in 1993 on MAKS -93. Rocket was X -25MTP created within the framework of the development program of multipurpose modular tactical missile X -25M and is one of the latter, created in tiporyade. On the international exhibition MAKS -99 in Zhukovskiy GNTSP “Arrow- star” it presented rocket X -25MTP with thermal-vision GSN. Rocket X -25MTP is intended for destruction of the small size mobile and stationary ground targets, seen in the IR- range. Rocket it is intended to arm aircraft and helicopters of tactical aviation. In all rockets of the type X -25M is standardized the glider, engine installation, warhead and some other elements of structure and onboard equipment.

The appearance of rockets X -25MT and X -29D with Thermovision GSP increased the all-weather suitability of machine.

and S -25TP had Thermovision GSN, intended for destruction of low-contrast of targets

Source: airwar.ru

Do the Russian field any equivalent to Maverick/Infran imaging seeker?

ISTR Armada magazine claiming the original SPBE-D cluster bomb entered service in the late 1980s or early 1990s. This would be before the similar US CBU-97 SFW…..

And why not? The Soviets had tested the DROZD-1 system in Afghanistan already… it consists of MMW radar sensors fitted to a tank turret connected to a computer that fires off fixed launch tubes for fragmentation rockets to intercept incoming AT grenades like RPG-7.

They also had the Krisanthema system under development, which is a ground launched MMW radar guided ATGM.

Similar questions for the gliding PBK-500U dispenser, any ideas on range and guidance method (if any?)?

Advertising claims 16km range against point targets and 40km range for area targets. The rocket assisted glide bombs should at least double that range I would expect. Guidance for the PBK is inertial.

S-25OFM-PU laser-guided rocket and ODAB-500 FAE:

Would also like to point out that the rocket on the left is the S-25 series rocket of 266mm calibre fired from a single round rocket pod and should be more accurately designated S-25-OFM, or in this case S-25LD. This particular rocket has a laser homing head on the OFM or HEFRAG model that has a calibre of 340mms. The warhead is 150kgs including HE and prefragmented steel. The S-25-O has a larger calibre of 420mm and a total warhead weight of 151kgs but rather less steel and is a pure HE blast weapon.
Both rockets without guidance have effective ranges of 2-3km, but when fitted with guidance heads effective range streches to 10km for both weapons. Laser homing, TV and IIR seeker heads have been developed, though it is generally the laser homing model shown most often.

Is the UAB-1500 in service with Russian forces? There is a smaller UAB-500 version as well:
http://www.janes.com/defence/air_forces/news/jdw/jdw000626_1_n.shtml

Any range and warhead weight figures for the UAB-500 and UAB-1500 bombs? Any idea, when or if they have entered service?

Similar questions for the gliding PBK-500U dispenser, any ideas on range and guidance method (if any?)?

ISTR Armada magazine claiming the original SPBE-D cluster bomb entered service in the late 1980s or early 1990s. This would be before the similar US CBU-97 SFW…..

Minor correction for the picture labelled:

“The PBK-500U gliding dispenser, along with an SPBE-D sensor-fused submunition, plus a RBK-500U dispenser:”

On the trolley to the left of the picture is the gliding dispensor and on the right is the normal dispensor (ie cluster bomb that is standard and been used for some time in the Russian and soviet forces), while the two submunitions shown are on the left is the SPBE-D sensor fused submunition with IIR and MMW radar sensors, while the submunition on the right that is not mentioned that looks like a green spike sticking out of a black cylinder is a BETAB-M concrete peircing submunition. Normal munitions for these two cluster bombs (one the gliding bomb on the left is new) include OAB-2.5PT anti personel airburst submunitions:126 per bomb (looks like two cricket balls joined together with a piece of plastic that has scoops around it to make it spin as it falls), the BETAB-M concrete peircing munitions mainly for use against airfields: 10 per bomb, OFAB-50UD HE Frag munitions: 10 per bomb, PTAB submunitions with a HEAT charge with a frag effect too:352 per bomb, and of course the SPBE-D submunitions of which 15 are carried per bomb. There are two versions of the SPBE, one only has MMW radar guidance to reduce costs.

Well those pics appeared in Fomin’s magazine “Vzlet” some time ago…

Would like anyway to see if Janes added something new…

Anybody have access to the article to comment?

Regard