The Ukrainian Defense Forces have found a way to combat guided aerial bombs (GABs), which the army of the aggressor country of russia has been dropping hundreds of on Ukrainian military positions and front-line settlements for the past year.
This is stated in the material of the British publication The Telegraph.
The russians began to actively use guided aerial bombs in late 2023. A number of military experts believe that the massive use of these bombs allowed the russian army to force the Ukrainian army to abandon Avdiyivka, a large defense node that the russians had been unable to break through for two years.
GABs, as a rule, are conventional free-falling bombs equipped with universal planning and correction modules (UPCM).
These are blocks with wings and a satellite navigation system that are attached to a conventional aerial bomb. This allows russian aircraft to drop them several dozen kilometers to the target, remaining out of reach of Ukrainian air defenses.
The bomb can fly 40-50 kilometers due to its wings, and thanks to the navigation system, it can precisely hit a single target.
Dropping a FAB-3000 aerial bomb with an UPCM module. Screenshot of the video.
Ukraine was practically powerless to stop the massive use of such bombs by the russians. The consequences of this turned out to be devastating for the Ukrainian army.
However, about a year later, the Armed Forces of Ukraine found a way to counter the guided russian bombs using electronic warfare and jamming.
The russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber, which covers the activities of the aviation of the occupation army, recently wrote that "the age of the divine UPCMs turned out to be short-lived."
"They don't hit. All satellite correction systems have officially left the chat," he wrote on February 25, 2025.
The russian complains that the Ukrainian military "has become accustomed to portable and mobile electronic warfare stations," which, he claims, are now dotted along the front line.
According to him, the effectiveness of using guided aerial bombs on large targets, such as, for example, settlements or industrial enterprises, continues to be high. But strikes on smaller targets on the contact line have lost their effectiveness.
"Yes, it would be possible to change tactics and spend not one bomb with UPCM on one target, but, for example, 8. Or 16. And then, taking into account the addition of errors, look, the target would be destroyed with one bomb from this pile <...> But, as you understand, you will have to report that out of 16 targets only one was killed. Probably. And who needs it? Well, you understand," the russian wrote.
Tom Whittington, a weapons expert at the UK’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told The Telegraph that russia’s guided aerial bombs, which are guided, should not be jammed.
“The bombs should have been designed and equipped with a reliable global navigation system that receives an encrypted signal and should be resistant to jamming,” Whittington said.
He suggested that this meant either the russian bombs were so poorly designed that they could be jammed, or Ukraine had found a way to overcome the protection built into the weapons.
The expert believes that massive counter-air strikes would reduce the russians’ influence on the Ukrainian army’s ability to supply and move troops.
According to The Telegraph, a number of experts fear that the recent US decision to stop military aid to Ukraine could undermine the Ukrainian military’s success in jamming and disrupting the front line.
The publication's sources told that Ukraine's European allies are looking for a solution to this problem. According to them, discussions are currently underway with companies specializing in electronic warfare on whether they will be able to provide the Ukrainian army with a sufficient number of electronic warfare means.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in September 2024, the russians announced the completion of tests of a new UPCM module with an increased range and a 3,000-kilogram guided aerial bomb.
As we recall, in April 2024, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine recognized that guided aerial bombs have become a weapon that allows the russian army to advance.
We also wrote that the battles in the Avdiyivka area in 2023-2024 demonstrated the effectiveness of guided aerial bombs and led to the fact that the russians began to use them en masse to destroy the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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