BETAB 500 CONCRETE-PIERCING BOMB

BETAB 500 [ "Betonobojnaja Aviacionnaja bomb"] is intended for target bombing under daylight and night-time conditions by aircrafts with multiple racks and fuze control systems. It is designed to penetrate and destroy reinforced concrete structures, as well as to damage runways by producing pits and holes and removing the concrete or asphalt.

The development of Soviet jet armor and concrete-piercing bombs were launched in 1940 in GSKB-47 and NII-3. At the same armament armor-piercing bomb Brabo-200, DS and concrete-bomb BETAB DS-150 already received in the course of the Great Patriotic War. In the 1940s they were called bombs with extra speed, hence the letters DS in the names of bombs. The warhead of the two bombs were 203-mm artillery shells. The penetrator bombs spawn an area of craters upon impact that impedes vehicle movement. Rocket motor scripts fire when bombs fall to 150m above terrain. Different rocket behavior for the different bombs. Bombs released under 150m will still cause runway damage. Can also be used on bridges, main roads, etc to impede vehicle activity. Tanks and some APCs can still navigate over the craters. They can keep the enemy from using their runways/tarmacs until the craters are removed.

The concrete-bomb BETAB DS-150 is close to Brabo device DS-200. The bomb Length 2097 mm. The total weight of 165 kg bombs. The warhead contains 14.5 kilograms of explosives and fuse RD. Rocket charge weighing 17.2 kg bomb provides the extra speed of 210 m/s. Tripping missile charge like Brabo DS-200 comes with the help of TM-4 remote handset. Bomb BETAB DS-150 penetrated into the rock massif of marble to a depth of 1.65 m. With the explosion of a bomb in the ground formed a large crater with a diameter of 1.8 m and a depth of 2.48 m. In the postwar period the reactive bomb BETAB-500 was accepted into service. The bombs had a 2509 mm length, 325 mm in diameter. The total weight of 424 kg bombs. The warhead weighing 350 kg contains 77 kg of explosive. BETAB-500 SHP could penetrate armor up to 550 mm thick. In average density of soil forms a funnel with a diameter of 4.5 m. If a bomb penetrates into a runway, the concrete surface destroyed over an area up to 50 m2. Islamic State command centers in Syria are multilevel underground bunkers made of reinforced concrete, so it takes a special bunker-busting BETAB-500 air bomb to knock them out. Once a concrete-piercing BETAB-500 accelerated by its jet booster breaks in and explodes, any underground installation is completely destroyed.

Russia’s military said 04 October 2015 it had bombed 10 Islamic State targets in Syria over 24 hours. “Over the past 24 hours SU-34, SU-24M and SU-25 jets made 20 sorties,” the defence ministry said, reeling off the latest list of targets. “Ten infrastructure targets of ISIS bandit groups have been struck,” it said, using another name for IS, which is also known as ISIL or Daesh. The defence ministry said the warplanes had once again deployed powerful concrete-buster munitions against IS targets. “Four command posts of ISIS armed groups have been destroyed with the help of concrete-piercing BETAB-500 bombs,” said the defence ministry.

The Russian Aerospace Forces used two BETAB-500 bunker buster bombs in Tuesday's airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria, a spokesman for the Aerospace Forces in Syria said 03 November 2015. "Today, Russian strike aircraft used two BETAB-500 bunker buster bombs weighing 500 kilograms [over 1,000 pounds] each against ISIL targets [in Syria]," Col. Igor Klimov told journalists in Syria. Klimov said the bombs were delivered by Russian Su-24 Fencer attack jets.