FAB-1500-M54 high-explosive bomb
Glide bombs, which Moscow has increasingly used along the contact line by May 2023, are modified projectiles equipped with wings and navigation systems that allow them to set a flight path to a target. the Russians were mainly modifying old Soviet FAB-500 aerial bombs for gliding projectiles. However, Russia also has bombs such as the UPAB-1500B-E, which were originally developed as “smart” bombs.
Ukraine is also using smart bombs based on GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) technology. The Jdam-ER complex can be installed on unguided projectiles. After being dropped, the bomb “opens its wings”, which increases its flight range three times. In this case, the projectile flies independently towards the target object. The JDAM systems used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces are experiencing malfunctions, presumably due to the fact that the Russian side is using GPS signal jamming systems.
The UPAB-1500B-E guided glide bomb is designed to destroy ground and surface small-sized strong and extra-strong targets such as reinforced reinforced concrete structures and command posts. Not so long ago it appeared only at exhibitions, but now it is used in real operations. An inertial-satellite guidance system is used. The warhead is a high-explosive concrete-piercing fuse, the fuse is a contact fuse with three types of deceleration. Increased power of the KAB-1500Kr-Pr warhead and high precision of aerial bomb guidance using a television-correlation system. An adjustable aerial bomb with a television-correlation homing head and a penetrating warhead KAB-1500Kr-Pr is designed to destroy stationary small-sized, especially strong and buried targets such as reinforced reinforced concrete structures and command posts. A television-correlation guidance system is used.
The FAB M54 is a series of general purpose bombs of Soviet origin. As indicated by its designation the M54 series was introduced in the mid 1950's. These bombs feature an iconic ballistic stabilization ring on the nose section. The M54 series has been produced in very large numbers and exported to various nations that acquired Soviet aircraft. The M54 series of general purpose bombs is produced in three sizes for regular combat use. These range from 250 kg to 1.500 kg. Furthermore, some excessively large bombs of up to 9.000 kg were created in this pattern, The FAB M54 series of general purpose bombs was supplemented by the FAB M62. These are streamlined low-drag bombs, generally similar to teh American Mk80 family, designed for external carriage by supersonic aircraft.
A high-explosive aerial bomb of 1500 kg caliber, model 1954, FAB-1500 M-54, is intended to destroy industrial, urban, port structures and other standard targets when bombing from altitudes up to 16,000 m at a flight speed of up to 1200 km/h (the aerial bomb was tested to an altitude of 12 500 m at an aircraft flight speed of 930 km/h). The aircraft bomb is loaded with TNT.
The Telegram channel “Military Correspondents of Russian Spring” reported in March 2023 that the Russian Aerospace Forces have begun to use new UPAB-1500B bombs in special operations. There is information that they are now using them to demolish fortified areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Avdeevka area.
After many months of trial and error, in September 2023 the first UMPC FAB-1500 M54 accurately found its combat target with a direct hit. For certain reasons, the designers were unable to simply increase the UMPCs that were used on the 500 and 250 kg calibers and attach them to the lorry. Therefore, everything had to start almost from scratch. New airframe, new mechanisms. Everything is solid, but everything is new. And finally everything worked out.
The first thing that had to be done in order to turn the FAB-1500-M54 into a glider is to redesign the aerodynamic shape of the bomb itself, aloog the lines of the more streamlined M62 bomb series. And this is actually quite a non-trivial task. The aerodynamic shape is designed to achieve a vertical entry into the ground. Assembling the wings for the suspension of bombs requires considerable physical effort and sometimes leads to the hospitalization of technical personnel, when the wings open on the ground. Considering the dimensions of the FAB-1500 wing, the mechanism, as well as the force of its opening, should be much larger.
The length of the FAB-1500-M54 bomb is 2765 meters, with a diameter of 630 mm and with a total weight of 1550 kg. The mass of the warhead (BB) of the aviation ammunition is 675,6 kg. When applied, the air bomb leaves behind a funnel up to 15 meters in diameter, and its radius of destruction by fragments and a shock wave is about 500 meters.The FAB-1500-M54 aerial bomb with the UMPC kit is launched from such carriers as the Su-34M fighter-bomber and the Su-35C multifunctional fighter. The maximum launch altitude of an air bomb is 12 km, and its initial gliding speed depends on the carrier and, as a rule, reaches 1900 km/h (supersonic).
At the same time, they were able to increase the release range by several times compared to UMPCs of smaller calibers. The drop range of the FAB-1500 was able to increase several times with respect to smaller calibers. That is, today it is our long-range bomb with UMPC from the existing ones, while "smart" FAB-500 is dropped from a distance of 40 to 70 km from the target. If the FAB-1500 release range is 2 times greater than the FAB-500 release range, which is dropped from a distance of 40 to 70 km from the target, then it turns out that the FAB-1500 is dropped from a distance of 80 to 140 km from the target. That is, this is the longest-range UMPKashka that exists.
UMPK kits with significantly smaller caliber air bombs are already a significant threat by themselves . Enemy aircraft can drop them outside the range of Ukrainian air defense means - that is, with impunity from high-altitude flight mode. There is a possibility of dropping them outside the range of air defense systems available in Ukraine, except for the extremely scarce Patriot and SAMP-T.
One of the ways to increase the effectiveness of guided aircraft weapons since the advent of air defense is to increase the range of their use. For guided aircraft bombs, this problem was solved by increasing the aerodynamic quality by choosing an aerodynamic configuration with developed load-bearing surfaces (wings). Such bombs are called guided glide bombs (GUAB). The UPAB-1500B-E aerial bomb is known from the existing level of technology, which is made according to a normal aerodynamic design using four flat triangular consoles of small aspect ratio with a symmetrical profile, installed according to the “X” pattern.
The main disadvantage of the noted aerodynamic configuration is the low aspect ratio of the wings, at which the maximum values of the aerodynamic quality Kmax are realized, no more than 4.5. The maximum flight range of UPAB-1500B-E is up to 50 km.
The closest technical solution to the proposed invention is the GBU-39/B aerial bomb (Poltavsky A.V., Semenov S.S., Burba A.A., NGUYEN ZUI PHONG “Information processes in technology: modeling of systems and objects of multifunctional robotic complexes unmanned aviation" publishing house JSC "PSTM", Moscow, 2019 p. 155), the aerodynamic layout of which is made according to the normal aerodynamic configuration with the orientation of the wing consoles according to the "tandem" - "high-wing" scheme. The wing consists of four profiled front and rear consoles of high aspect ratio, respectively AK˜15 and AK˜14, and allows flight at a distance of up to 110 km, with maximum values of aerodynamic quality Kmax=8.
The disadvantage of using the “tandem” - “high-wing” aerodynamic configuration of the GBU-39/B aerial bomb is the need to roll over by 180° after separation from the carrier, which requires additional consumption of total mechanical energy for rollover and reduces the flight range of the aerial bomb.
The epic nature of the bomb can be appreciated in the photo in comparison with the average FB, which is by no means small. For FAB-1500, the radius of the zone of severe damage can reach approximately 70 meters, medium damage - 140-150 meters, light - 300-350 meters.
With a stated accuracy of 5 meters, only the crater from the bomb explosion reaches fifteen meters in diameter, and the affected area is more than two square kilometers. Only the explosives in this bomb are under 700 kg, while the Su-34 carries and can already operate with two such UMPCs, and in the future it will be able to operate with three ammunition, at one or different targets in one pass.
There is still a lot to be completed, a lot to improve, to go through the inevitable process of shrinking and shaking, but successful combat work has begun in one and a half hours.
So far the cases of using UMPCs of this type are isolated, there are still few of them, but within a month the industry will organize their production at the calculated volumes and they will fly, just as UMPCs of more modest calibers fly today, up to a hundred a day in all directions. UMPC have learned to throw not only Su-34 and Su-35 of the latest series, but also Su-34 of the first series.
| Total weight (without fuses), kg | 1550 |
| Weight of explosive (bursting charge), kg | 675 |
| Filling coefficient, percentage | 43.5 |
| Body diameter, mm | 630 |
| Total length (without fuse), mm | 2765 |
| Spread stabilizer, mm | 792 |
| Number of fuses | 2 |
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