The aerospace forces of the Russian Federation will receive airborne systems that will radically increase the effectiveness of the use of unguided aircraft bombs. As RT told the Era military technopolis (Anapa), as a result of modernization of guidance systems, the accuracy of bomber strikes will increase by 2-3 times.

Employees of the Technological Vision laboratory of the technopolis and specialists of Sukhoi PJSC are working on the corresponding project. The tasks of the Era include design studies of the entire range of unguided munitions that are in service with the airborne forces. A “random check of adequacy” of the results obtained is carried out at the 929th V.P. Chkalov State Flight Testing Center (GLITS, Akhtubinsk).

Using a supercomputer, technopolis engineers and scientific company operators create a mathematical model of the aerodynamic and ballistic characteristics of ammunition. In particular, the study uses the power of the domestic software complex Logos and supercomputers on Russian processors, which is located in Era.

In addition, as part of the project, laboratory staff create digital models of unguided bombs and simulate their purging in a wind tunnel. The obtained data is transmitted to PJSC Sukhoi, whose specialists make the appropriate changes to the guidance systems of combat aircraft.

“Without entering the affected area”

As suggested by Dmitry Kornev, founder of the Military Russia portal, in an interview with RT, Era and Sukhoi are working on improving the guidance system of the SVP-24 Hephaestus sighting and navigation system. Thanks to this product, the accuracy of bombing has significantly increased in the aerospace forces, as evidenced by the successes of Russian aviation in Syria.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, SVP-24 allowed more than three times to increase the accuracy characteristics of the Su-24M aircraft and four times increase the timing of the daily combat raid. From the information of the department it follows that Hephaestus began to be installed on bombers even before the start of the Syrian operation.

  • A massive strike in Syria with OFAB-250-270 aerial bombs by long-range Tu-22M3 bombers

“Pilots evaluated the work of SVP-24 at the training grounds of various climatic zones, in difficult weather conditions and with limited visibility. Over the course of the year, Hephaestus made it possible to work out and bring to perfection the bombing from a free maneuver, without entering the target zone of the air defense assets of a conditional enemy. The accuracy of hitting targets actually equaled that of managed assets, ”the Defense Ministry said.

SVP-24 allows the bomber to receive target designation and almost instantly strike in accordance with the specified coordinates. Hephaestus is also able to calculate the optimal height of ammunition dumping. The bombing process takes place automatically.

As the operator of the scientific company Dmitry Okulovsky explained in a conversation with RT, the guidance system determines the moment most favorable for dropping uncontrolled bombs, taking into account the distance to the target, altitude and speed, weather conditions (for example, wind speed), the position of the aircraft in the air and aerodynamic characteristics of the ammunition itself.

Dmitry Kornev also points to many nuances that must be considered when using unguided munitions. According to him, a novice pilot on an airplane equipped with analogue equipment can miss during bombing. However, according to the expert, modern digital technologies greatly simplify the process of aiming unguided ammunition on the target.

“As far as I understand, the engineers of Era pass the so-called settings to Sukhoi - roughly speaking, these are settings for ammunition. They just laid the algorithm for the "behavior" of the bomb, depending on environmental conditions. The settings are entered into the sighting and navigation system. After that, the pilot, guided by a digital map of the area, can use unguided ammunition and with a high probability to hit the target, ”said Kornev.

This method of bombing has only one visible drawback - unguided ammunition can be used only when the coordinates of the target are present in the guidance system. This means that unguided bombs are difficult to destroy moving targets. In addition, they are unsuitable for "free hunting." However, according to Kornev, such tasks are not very often confronted by the videoconferencing system.

"These ammunition will still come in handy."

To date, the specialists of "Era" and "Sukhoi" have increased the accuracy of OFAB-250-270 for fighter-bomber Su-34. According to the test results, the accuracy of bombing increased by 2-3 times, reaching the targets.

OFAB-250-270 is a free-falling high-explosive fragmentation bomb designed to destroy manpower, military equipment, and unreinforced ground targets. Ammunition can be dropped from a height of up to 16 km. The probable circular deviation (actually reflects an accuracy indicator) is from 30 to 150 meters.

OFAB-250-270 has a mass of 266 kg and an explosive mass of 94 kg. When detonated within a radius of 50 m, the bomb disperses about 11.5 thousand fragments. This ammunition was actively used in Syria by tactical (Su-24M, Su-25, Su-34) and long-range aircraft (Tu-22M3).

Dmitry Kornev said that the joint project of Era and Sukhoi is of great importance both from the military and economic points of view. Improving the accuracy of unguided bombs will allow the air forces to effectively solve combat missions in low-intensity conflicts with minimal financial costs.

“In Syria, Russian aviation mainly used unguided bombs, which remained in stocks after the end of the Cold War. Given the scale of the USSR’s preparations for a potential clash with NATO, it can be assumed that only a small part of these reserves was used up in the Arab Republic. The development of Era and Sukhoi will ensure the effective use of Soviet free-falling bombs for decades to come, ”Kornev believes.

  • Russian aircraft in Syria are preparing a VKS plane for a sortie
  • RIA News
  • © Maxim Blinov

A similar point of view is shared by professor of the Academy of Military Sciences, senior researcher at the Center for Political Studies of Russia Vadim Kozyulin. In a commentary on RT, the expert noted that in anti-terrorist campaigns and in military operations against a technically weak enemy of the airborne forces, it makes no sense to use expensive guided missiles.

As explained by Kozyulin, the cost of one free-falling bomb is ten times lower than modern high-precision munitions. Of course, such a bomb is noticeably inferior in accuracy to controlled and corrected counterparts, but this drawback eliminates the use of more advanced sighting and navigation systems, the expert says.

“Without a doubt, the future lies with guided missiles and adjustable bombs. They are now being improved by the Russian defense industry. However, a complete rejection of cheap free-falling bombs would be a wrong move. These ammunition is still useful. Moreover, there is no need to invest money in their modernization, ”said Kozyulin.