Russia’s Giant 6,000lb Glide Bomb Seen Launched From Su-34 For First Time

Russia has, for the first time, published footage showing what it says is the carriage and launch of the guided, winged version of its huge FAB-3000 aerial bomb — a weapon that weighs over 6,600 pounds in its basic configuration. The weapon is among the more recently announced additions to the growing family of UMPK munitions, which add a pop-out wing kit and a guidance package to a range of existing freefall weapons, as you can read more about here.

The new video claiming to show the bomb — the precise designation of which remains unknown at this point — was published by the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to their account, the footage shows a strike against a “temporary deployment point” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of responsibility of the North Group of Forces, which is known to operate in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

The footage shows the pilot of a Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft checking a bomb mounted on the centerline station under the fuselage of the jet before switching to an air-to-air view of the plane carrying and then dropping a weapon.

After its wings deploy, the bomb rotates around its axis to fly with the wings and tailfins pointing upward; this is standard for weapons of the UMPK series, which are mounted upside-down on their launch aircraft.

Interestingly, there appears to be a pair of red lights at the rear end of the weapon, which at one point are seen to be illuminated. The purpose of these is not clear, but it could be a way of making it easier for the crew of the launch aircraft to track the progress of the weapon toward its target.

The end of the video includes an aerial view — presumably from a drone — showing the supposed impact of the bomb.

At this point, it should be noted that there is some question as to whether all portions of the footage actually show a UMPK attached to a FAB-3000 or if some show the smaller FAB-1500 with the same guidance/glide kit attached — this latter is a weapon we have looked at in detail before.

Some of the views in the new video show the distinctive tailfins of the FAB-3000, but others are less clear. Based on earlier official videos, the FAB-3000 tailfins feature a continuous straight line along their longest edge, while those of the FAB-1500 have characteristic ‘cropped-out’ sections.

It is certainly possible that the video is actually a montage showing footage of both these weapons and it wouldn’t be the first time that official Russian videos have been manipulated or heavily edited.

Both the FAB-1500 and FAB-3000 versions of the UMPK include an assembly containing the pop-out wing, which is strapped around the main body of the weapon. The same assembly extends all the way to the rear of the bomb where a V-shaped tail is attached. Both also feature a rounded aerodynamic fairing covering the weapon’s blunt nose.

Interestingly, the Su-34 in the video is also shown carrying additional, smaller glide bombs under the wing. These seem to be examples of the UMPB D-30SN. As we have explored in the past, these are a rather more refined version of the UMPK concept, apparently purpose-designed rather than converted with kits and fulfilling a role that’s somewhat closer to the U.S.-made Small Diameter Bomb (SDB).

While we have seen plenty of examples of Russian tactical jets carrying UMPB D-30SN bombs, as well as smaller versions of the UMPK, provided the video is as described, this is the first time we have seen a 3,000-kilogram version of the UMPK actually being loaded on an aircraft and launched. Previous Russian Ministry of Defense videos claiming to show the 3,000-kilogram-class UMPK only showed the purported impact and destruction.

The video below, published by a Russian military blogger in June, purports to show the first combat employment of one of the FAB-3000s fitted with a UMPK-series glide bomb kit. The supposed target was a three-story structure Ukrainian forces were using as a forward operating location in the village of Lyptsi in the Kharkiv region.

Produced by the JSC Tactical Missiles Corporation, the UMPK kits — the designation stands for Unifitsirovannyi Modul Planirovaniya i Korrektsii, or Unified Gliding and Correction Module — have reportedly seen a threefold increase in manufacturing output since last year.

While the FAB-3000 glide bomb conversion had previously been announced, there had been speculation as to whether Russian tactical jets would even be able to carry such a large and heavy weapon. In the past, FAB-3000s have only been associated with Soviet and Russian bombers, with the Tu-22M3 Backfire-C being the last of these aircraft still in service that is known to be cleared to carry the FAB-3000.

The Su-34 might not have the load-carrying capacity of the Tu-22M3, but it can still carry impressively large amounts of ordnance and other stores. Until now, the heaviest weapon it was known to carry was in the 1,500-kilogram class.

Otherwise, UMPK kits have previously been seen mated to 500-kilogram and 1,500-kilogram series freefall bombs, including the FAB type of high-explosive bomb, ODAB fuel-air explosive bomb, OFAB fragmentation/high-explosive bomb (as seen in the video embedded below), and RBK single-use cluster bomb.

What’s important about the FAB-3000-based UMPK is that this weapon is twice the size of the previous heaviest weapon in this class and six times heavier than the most widely used Russian bombs in this category.

Obviously, using the FAB-3000 provides that much more destructive power, although it’s questionable just how many targets actually require such a large piece of ordnance, with the FAB-1500 already being a good deal heavier than the largest tactical aircraft-deployed conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal (with a nominal weight of 2,000 pounds/907 kilograms), for example.

It’s also unclear to what degree the size and weight of the FAB-3000 will affect its standoff capability. This, after all, is the primary driver behind the development of these weapons, helping Russian tactical jets stay further away from enemy defenses.

While the UMPK includes satellite navigation-enabled guidance, there have already been questions raised — including from Russian military bloggers — about how accurate and reliable these kits are.

So, while its destructive power may be formidable, its potentially more limited accuracy and standoff range mean that the UMPK-equipped FAB-3000 is far from a substitute for a purpose-designed air-launched heavy standoff weapon, like the Kh-22 and Kh-32 (AS-4 Kitchen) supersonic cruise missiles. As we have noted in the past, Russia’s limited stocks and production capacity for more advanced air-launched weapons have been driving the development of alternative standoff munitions like the UMPK series.

There may even be a suggestion that the development of this super-heavy weapon has been pursued, at least in part, to use up existing stocks of freefall FAB-3000 bombs that would otherwise be of very limited utility in the conflict. There have been reports, but no confirmation, that Tu-22M3s dropped these during the offensive against Mariupol, but further use would likely require a direct overflight of the target, putting the launch aircraft at considerable risk.

On the other hand, there have also been reports in the Russian media that “mass production” of the FAB-3000 was launched in February this year. Even if true, it’s unclear how long it would take to ramp up production of this weapon, the design of which dates back to the mid-1950s.

The appearance of the UMPK series (and more recently the UMPB D-30SN) has already been a significant issue for Ukraine. With Russian tactical jets able to sling them from dozens of miles away from their targets and from high altitude, the weapons are hard to spot and intercept and such efforts consume precious air defense assets. The widespread use of these weapons has already prompted notable shifts in Ukrainian air defense tactics.

At the same time, as well as being effective against broad-area military and industrial targets, these weapons clearly have a terrorizing effect on urban areas, where they can result in massive damage, even in their smaller versions.

Whatever the thinking behind the UMPK-equipped FAB-3000, and its actual capabilities, the huge weapon will provide yet another problem for Ukraine’s hard-pressed air defenses.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com