The secret behind the bombs being used to attack terrorists in Syria.
The Russian Air Force has just released a video showing highly accurate attacks on militants in Syria using the KAB-500Kr – a type of bomb that Vietnam equips its Su-30 aircraft with.
The images released in the video show Russian Air Force fighter jets using KAB-500Kr bombs to attack ISIS targets with a near-perfect Circular Error Probability (CEP).
To be able to deliver such a perfectly accurate strike, in addition to the reliability of the fighter jet itself, it also requires the sophisticated design of the bomb used.
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Attaching weapons to the Su-34 attack aircraft. |
Specifically, the KAB-500Kr is a type of bomb used to destroy enemy targets including armored vehicles, radar bases, rocket launchers, infrastructure, ships, and troops. To accomplish these tasks, the KAB-500Kr uses high-explosive material.
This weapon was developed based on the FAB-500 prototype, but it has been enhanced with many superior features. The KAB-500Kr version is equipped with an additional low-light television guidance head, control fins on the body and tail, making it an unpowered, guided glide bomb.
The bomb is 3.05m long, weighs up to 520kg, and carries a penetrator warhead capable of penetrating 1.5m of fortified underground bunkers. The KAB-500Kr uses a television-guided optical guidance system with an image sensor that is only usable in daylight conditions.
The bombs are guided to their targets using DSMAC (Digital Subtraction Angiography) technology. Thanks to this technology, the bombs have very high accuracy, with a target lock range of 15-17km depending on visibility conditions and a Circular Error Probability (CEP) of only 1m.
The television-guided warhead, with its correlation algorithm processing information about the target, is capable of remembering the target's location and adjusting the bomb's trajectory to hit the target, essentially applying the "drop-and-forget" principle.
The KAB-500Kr will allow for the destruction of low-contrast and camouflaged targets when there are reference points on the terrain and target coordinates relative to these reference points. During the anti-terrorism air campaign in Syria, Russian Air Force frequently used KAB-500 and its variant, the KAB-500Kr, on Su-34 bombers.
Notably, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Vietnam also possesses this type of smart bomb.
According to SIPRI, in 2009 Vietnam received 200 KAB-500Kr and KAB-1500 guided bombs from Russia to equip its Su-30MK2 multirole fighter jets under a previously signed contract between the two sides.
Video shows Russian fighter jets taking off on a mission in Syria.
