FAB Fugasnaya Aviationnye Bomba
FAB series munitions (FAB is a Russian acronym for fugasnaya aviationnye bomba "Highexplosive Aviation Bomb") have been reported on extensively in the context of their use as bunker busters in Ukraine, with both Russian and foreign observers interested in the upgrades Russian engineers have made to the freefalling "dumb bombs" to turn them into smart munitions. This has been made possible using the UMPK, or "Unified Planning and Correction Module," a universal add-on for FAB bombs which transforms them into wing and rudder-equipped, laser and satellite-guided glide-assisted standoff weapons. The principle behind the UMPK concept is similar to that of the US Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM upgrade kits for dumb munitions.
High-explosive aerial bombs (FAB) are aerial bombs whose main destructive effect is the effect of a landmine . They have the most powerful and versatile destructive effect among main-purpose aerial bombs. The mass of the explosive in the bomb is approximately 50%, and the bomb also has a relatively strong body for penetration into the ground or into obstacles such as the floors of buildings and structures.
High-explosive bombs are used to destroy cities and important rear facilities: factories, factories, bridges, warehouses, airfields, railway junctions, etc., as well as to destroy various defensive structures. Aircraft bombs contain a steel body, warhead, explosive charge, and low-drag tail for stabilization in flight. Air bombs can be equipped with fuses located in the head of the bomb or in the tail. When the fuse is placed in the head part, the air bomb functions as a high-explosive fragmentation ammunition, and when the explosive charge is initiated, a sliding detonation wave is formed, which approaches the shell of the body at a certain angle, reducing the initial speed and meridional angle of fragmentation, which significantly reduces the growth of the reduced area shrapnel damage.
When a high-explosive aerial bomb hits a building, it pierces several interfloor ceilings and, exploding inside the building, causes great destruction. If a bomb explodes upon impact with the surface of the earth or at some depth in the ground, a crater is formed, the size of which depends on the caliber of the bomb and the nature of the ground. In this case, the foundations of buildings, gas and water supply networks, telephone, electrical, telegraph cables and other underground structures are destroyed. A large black or gray cloud of smoke appears above the explosion site; Debris, stones, earth, dust fly up and to the sides. The explosion of such a bomb is accompanied by a strong, sharp sound.
When a high-explosive bomb explodes, a shock air wave occurs, which causes the destruction of buildings and structures at a considerable distance from the explosion site. The shock wave can affect a person directly or indirectly, causing injuries, bruises, dislocations, fractures, contusions and other damage. (Indirect exposure refers to injuries caused by debris from collapsing buildings, flying stones, etc.)
The larger the caliber of the bomb and the more explosives it contains, the greater the destruction it produces. During the Second World War and the Korean War, high-explosive bombs with a caliber of 50 to 10,000 kilograms or more were used.
Main damaging actions:
- Gaseous explosion products with high overpressure
- Shock waves in air or soil and seismic waves
- Fragments from crushing the bomb body.
Basic targets:
- Logistics and communications facilities
- Military-industrial and energy facilities
- Combat vehicles
- Living force.
Modern general-purpose FABs weigh 250 kg or more. They can have several forms:
- M54 - Blunt - designed for the most efficient placement inside the fuselage. Release is provided at near- and subsonic speeds and altitudes of up to 15-16 km.
- M62 - High aspect ratio - they have a streamlined head section, designed mainly for aircraft with external suspension, including supersonic. They have less drag and are more stable.
- TS - Thick-walled - Designed for action against particularly durable targets (reinforced concrete weapons depots, equipment parking lots, runways , dams). Such bombs are distinguished by a more massive and durable head part , a thicker body, and the absence of a head for a fuse and an igniter cup.
The name of the bomb consists of the type of bomb ( FAB -250M-46), its caliber in kilograms (FAB - 250 M-46), model by year of adoption (FAB-250 M-46 - model 1946) and additionally (not always ) indication of its mass - if it differs significantly from the caliber (OFAB-250-270 , FAB-1500-2600 TS ) and/or the design feature of the bomb or its production technology (FAB-500 T - heat-resistant, FAB-1500-2600 TS - thick-walled, FAB-100 sch - steel cast iron, FAB-1000 SL - steel casting), or for commercial purposes (KAB-500S- E - export).
The main types of domestic high-explosive bombs were developed at NIO-67* in the early 1930s. In 1931-1932 High-explosive bombs of caliber 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 kg were designed. In 1934, the FAB-2000 high-explosive air bomb developed at NIO-67 was adopted by the Air Force. The FAB-50 and FAB-70 high-explosive bombs were 152-mm and 203-mm high-explosive shells from obsolete guns with welded stabilizers.
Before the war, in order to save scarce metal, at the suggestion of Professor N.I. Galperin, Design Bureau No. 35 of the NKB, headed by him, developed a series of high-explosive aerial bombs in thin-walled reinforced concrete casings (FAB-100NG, FAB-250NG, FAB-500NG and FAB-1000NG). Testing of these products was successfully completed in June 1941. Even before the start of the war, high-explosive bombs in reinforced concrete casings were adopted by the Air Force. In the first years of the war, reinforced concrete buildings were also manufactured at the Pavshinsky plant near Moscow.
During the war, mass production of high-explosive bombs of a simplified design, created in 1942-1943, was launched. in GSKB-47. The new designs were based on the casting of casings from steel cast iron. On the machines, threads were cut only for the fuse, and in the remaining threaded connections, Edison threads were used, obtained during the casting of the housings. The stabilizers were made detachable.
At the same time, in order to reduce the volume of machining, the drawings of welded versions of high-explosive bomb bodies were also revised. High-explosive bombs of simplified design and manufacturing technology were assigned the index M-43. During the year, 9 new designs were created: FAB-50 M43, FAB-100 M-43, FAB-250 M43, FAB-500 M-43, FAB-2000 M-43, FAB-50sch (gray cast iron), FAB- YuOsch, FAB-250sch and FAB-YOOSl (steel casting).
By the end of the war, powerful high-explosive fragmentation bombs OFAB-100 were adopted. This bomb was loaded with 26 kg of 50/50 ammatol and a 4.7 kg TNT plug. When bombed from a height of 2000 m and the explosion of an OFAB-100 bomb, a crater with a diameter of 4.8 m, a depth of 1.7 m and a volume of 10 m^ was formed in ordinary soil. When OFAB-100 exploded, fragments ensured complete destruction of open manpower within a radius of 50 m, pierced armor 40 mm thick at a distance of 3 m, 30 mm at a distance of 10 m and 15 mm at 15 m from the explosion site.
During the war, high-explosive bombs were filled by filling the body with one of the following explosives: pure TNT, French mixture (80% picric acid + 20% dinitronaphthalene), ammatol 50/50, TCA alloy (50% TNT + 38% ammonium nitrate + 10 % aluminum powder) and TGA-12 alloy (50% TNT + 40% RDX + 10% aluminum powder). A large number of high-explosive bombs were filled with ammatol 80/20 by screwing on horizontal screw devices.
In 1941, the Air Force adopted (for wartime) the high-explosive bomb FAB-100 KD, developed by S. G. Dobrysh (NII-6). This bomb was filled with a liquid explosive mixture of CD, consisting of nitric acid, dichloroethane and oleum (ratio 60: 40: 30). In terms of explosive characteristics, this mixture is equivalent to TNT. The high explosive effect of the FAB-100 KD was the same as that of the FAB-100 loaded with TNT. The technology for equipping the FAB-100 KD was extremely simple (alternately pouring components into the bomb body), so organizing production required no more than one or two months.
From the beginning of 1942, the Air Force began to use the FAB-100 KD. At that time, this was very important, since the equipment factories were evacuated, and there was not enough TNT and other explosives to equip aerial bombs. Production of the FAB-100 KD was discontinued in 1944 due to the fact that the mobilization stock of solid-forged hulls was completely used up. Attempts to use welded bodies were unsuccessful: filled with the CD mixture, they leaked along the welds.
At the beginning of the war, when German troops approached Moscow, attempts were made to use oxyliquity bombs developed at NII-6 on the Western Front. For this purpose, reinforced concrete buildings FAB-100 NG and FAB-250 NG were used. They were stuffed with a mixture of moss (sphagnum) and charcoal, which has a high absorption capacity. Liquid oxygen delivered from Moscow was poured into bombs at front-line airfields. Air bombs equipped in this way retained explosive properties at the level of bombs filled with TNT and ammatol 50/50 for 3-4 hours for FAB-100 and FAB-250. About 500 oxy-liquid aerial bombs, mainly 100 kg caliber, were equipped and dropped on airfields, tank columns, bridges and other enemy targets. Work on their use was stopped when German troops were thrown back from the capital and the delivery of liquid oxygen to front-line airfields became impossible.
The total share of high-explosive bombs FAB-500, FAB-100 and FAB-250 during the war ranged from 97 to 99.6%. The range of high-explosive bombs changed towards the predominance of larger calibers. The share of FAB-250 increased every year; by the end of the war, their share increased sixfold compared to 1941 and reached 17.2%. The share of FAB-500 decreased significantly, and the production of FAB-100 throughout the war years remained at the level of 50-70% of the total number of high-explosive bombs produced.
In the post-war period, several types of high-explosive aircraft bombs of caliber 100, 250, 500, 1500, 3000, 5000 and 9000 kg were adopted. High-explosive bombs of large calibers, adopted for service in the late 1940s and early 50s, were mainly intended for use against large naval ships. Only FAB-1500s were considered acceptable for attacks on industrial facilities, dams and underground structures.
A conventional FAB-1500 bomb had walls 18 mm thick and contained 675 kg of explosive. In addition, the FAB-1500-2600TS thick-walled bomb was in service. Despite the name (caliber), its actual weight was 2.5 tons. The warhead is cast, with a wall thickness of about 100 mm. FAB-ZOOOM-46 and FAB-ZOOOM-54 each contained 1400 and 1387 kg of TNT, and FAB-9000M-54 - 4297 kg of TNT.
Heavy high-explosive bombs were used quite intensively in the Afghan war. Thus, in just three months of 1988, Tu-16 bombers dropped 289 FAB-9000M-54 bombs. However, the real effect of using heavy high-explosive bombs was small. The radius of lethal damage from the FAB-3000 shock wave did not exceed 39 m, and for the FAB-9000, respectively, 57 m. The enemy received incapacitating concussions with bleeding from the nose and ears, respectively, within a radius of up to 158 and 225 m. They showed more success with action in the mountains thick-walled FAB-1500-2600TS.
Damage zone radii | |||
Name of aerial bombs | |||
severe damage zone | medium damage zone | light damage zone | |
FAB-50 | 12 | 25 | 50 |
FAB-100 | 18 | 35 | 70 |
FAB-250 | 28 | 56 | 112 |
FAB-500 | 40 | 80 | 160 |
FAB-1000 | 56 | 112 | 224 |
Note: The zone of
Abbreviation | Image | Diameter (mm) | Length (mm) | Bomb mass (kg) | Explosive mass (kg) | Notes |
FAB-50TSK | 219 | 936 | 60 | 25 | Solid forged | |
FAB-100 | 267 | 964 | 100 | 70 (together with warhead) | ||
FAB-250 | 285 | 1589 | 250 | 99 | ||
FAB-250-M54 | 325 | 1795 | 268 | 97 | ||
FAB-250-M62 | 300 | 1924 | 227 | 100 | ||
FAB-250TS | 300 | 1500 | 256 | 61.4 | Thick-walled, Armor penetration 1 m | |
FAB-250SHL | 325 | 1965 | 266 | 137 (TE) | Assault, surface explosion | |
FAB-500 | 392 | 2142 | 500 | 213 | ||
FAB-500T | 400 | 2425 | 477 | 191 | Heat resistant | |
FAB-500-M54 | 450 | 1790 | 528 | 201 | ||
FAB-500-M62 | 400 | 2425 | 500 | 200 | ||
FAB-500SHN | 450 | 2190 | 513 | 221 | Low-altitude assault | |
FAB-500SHL | 450 | 2220 | 515 | 221 | Assault, surface explosion | |
FAB-1000 | - | - | - | - | ||
FAB-1500 | 580 | 3000 | 1400 | 1200 (with warhead) | ||
FAB-1500T | - | - | 1488 | 870 TE | Heat resistant | |
FAB-1500-2500TS | - | - | 2151 | 436 TE | Thick-walled, armor penetration 2500 mm | |
FAB-1500-M54 | - | - | 1550 | 675.6 | ||
FAB-2000 | - | - | - | - | ||
FAB-3000 | - | - | 3067 | 1387 (TE) | ||
FAB-3000-M46 | - | - | 3000 | 1400 | ||
FAB-3000-M54 | - | - | 3067 | 1200 (TE) | ||
FAB-5000 | 642 | 3107 | 4900 | 2207 | ||
FAB-5000-M54 | - | - | 5247 | 2210.6 (TEQ) | ||
FAB-9000-M54 | 1200 | 5050 | 9407 | 4297 (TE) |
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