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FAB-5000M-54 high-explosive bomb

The high-explosive air bomb FAB-5000M-54 is a "descendant" of the FAB-5000NG bomb designed by designer Hison Ilyich Gelperin, which was put into service and put into production in 1943. This five-ton was terrifying to fascists. She rendered indispensable assistance to ground troops in many battles, in particular in the battle of Kursk and for Konigsberg. It was used in the storming of fortresses, coastal fortifications, for the destruction of factories and airfields. Once Soviet intelligence delivered a shot to designers, taken after hitting the superbomb in a cluster of fascist heavy tanks. "Tigers" and "Panthers" flipped over and rattled like children's toys.

The need for ammunition, which could destroy large military-industrial facilities of the enemy with one blow from the air - caponiers of airfields, factories, fortufaxions, railway junctions, dams, etc., began to be felt in the early 50s. Since the simultaneous dropping of several medium-caliber bombs did not lead to the desired result due to their inevitable dispersion (UAB was not used at that time). Therefore, a powerful, focused impact on the target was required. And the high-explosive air bomb FAB-5000M-54, after revision, was again adopted. FAB-5000M-54 is intended to destroy military-industrial structures and factory buildings during bombing from altitudes of up to 16,000 m with an airplane flight speed of up to 1,200 km / h. It is equipped with 3 fuses.

But the time of heavy aerial bombs came in the 1980s in Afghanistan, where they were used by the DBA of the USSR on mountain gorges. In Afghanistan, the effectiveness of the high-altitude bombing positions of the Mujahideen with the help of these bombs turned out to be low. Heavy FAB-5000 appeared in the late forties as the only means of fighting large ships at that time and did not correspond at all to the tasks of fighting manpower. Even with the bombing of "enemy villages", which had completely swept away houses and duvalis, the real effect was small. The power of these bombs was wasted. In terms of effectiveness, they were inferior to a series of front-line caliber bombs, which were purposely dropped from the attack aircraft.

But the solution was found. So that the explosion power was not wasted on the surface, the fuses were set to trigger with a slowdown, which allowed the bomb to go deeper and explode in the thick of the mountain. And effectiveness of the heavy FAB increased when dumping them in not large gorges, which literally "folded" from such power or collapsed stones they fell asleep, "burying" the gangs and blocking the aisles. Some of the bombs were sometimes equipped with special fuses of the AVPZ for mining, self-destructing for several days.

The carrier of the FAB-3000 and FAB-5000 is the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber. The plans of the Russian Aerospace Forces to use high-explosive bombs FAB-3000 and FAB-5000M became known in September 2022. It was noted that a five-ton aerial bomb could be dropped from a height of 15 thousand meters at a flight speed of 1200 kilometers per hour. FAB-5000M targets are particularly strong objects, both above and below the ground. As for their smaller brothers - the one and a half ton guided aerial bomb UPAB-1500B and its gliding analogue - they are used in Ukraine .