UMPK guided bomb
The analog of the American JDAM-ER in the Russian version is called UMPK (Unifitsirovannogo nabora Modulei Planirovanie i Korrekcii - unified set of modules for planning and correction ). The cost of domestic know-how, according to the source, does not exceed 2 million rubles [US$25,000], which is significantly cheaper than overseas ammunition. At the same time, the efficiency of FAB-500 with UMPK is very high.
“The Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation (KTRV) has organized serial production of guided planning and correction modules and controlled modular gliding bombs. This was announced 12 January 2024 by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “The corporation has solved the problems of increasing the hit accuracy and noise immunity of ammunition, organized the serial production of controlled planning and correction modules, controlled modular gliding bombs and control units for rockets,” the Russian military department quotes the minister as saying.
The system of unified high-precision noise-resistant ammunition is undergoing the final stage of testing. This was announced by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “The created system of unified high-precision noise-immune ammunition is undergoing the final stage of testing,” the Russian military department quotes the minister as saying.
The production of the most popular high-precision weapons has been increased by JSC Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation (KTRV) by five times. The head of KTRV, Boris Obnosov, reported this to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during an inspection of the implementation of the State Defense Order at the corporation's enterprise in the Moscow region. “The general director of the corporation, Boris Obnosov, reported to Army General Sergei Shoigu that the enterprise has fully fulfilled the state defense order for 2023, and since the beginning of the special military operation, the production volumes of high-precision weapons have increased fivefold for some of the most popular product ranges. Boris Obnosov emphasized that this became possible due to the expansion and modernization of production, increasing the number of personnel, increasing labor productivity and switching to a 24/7 work schedule,” the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.
The volume of production has tripled in some divisions of the Tactical Missile Arms Corporation (KTRV) due to a 40% increase in labor productivity, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported following a trip to one of the corporation’s enterprises by the head of the department, Sergei Shoigu. “The head of one of the divisions of the enterprise, Dmitry Kovalev, told the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation that by increasing labor productivity by 40% and switching to a 12-hour work shift, the volume of production at the site he heads has been tripled,” the report says. “The time is now, we need to work like this. Thank you,” Shoigu replied. The department reported that the KTRV presented to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation the latest models of precision-guided ammunition, launched into mass production in 2023, as well as promising weapons.
“Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that “controlled planning and correction modules for equipping free-falling aerial bombs of 250, 500 and 1,500 kg calibers have successfully proven themselves during a special military operation,” the Russian military department reported following the minister’s trip to defense industry enterprise in the Moscow region.
Shoigu, during an inspection of the implementation of the state defense order at the Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation (KTRV) enterprise, ordered the modernization of conventional ammunition, available in sufficient quantities, into high-precision ones. “The head of the Russian military department has set the task of not only increasing the production of precision-guided ammunition, but also modernizing them, that is, transferring a separate line of ammunition from the category of conventional ones, which we have in sufficient quantities, Sergei Shoigu emphasized, to the category of high-precision ones,” the department reported.
“There is successful experience and there are good results. It is necessary to increase this work. Today, the main combat work is carried out not on areas, but on specific targets,” Shoigu is quoted as saying by the Ministry of Defense.
In the first half of the 2000s, the Basalt enterprise was engaged in the full development of unified specialized correction and planning technologies for installation in high-explosive bombs. The United States of America is already using such means to improve bombs; within the framework of the JDAM project, guided FABs are being assembled based on ammunition types MK-84, MK-83, MK-82, as well as other bombs of 500, 1000 and 2000 calibers grades GBU-31, GBU-32 and GBU-38. These weapons provide advanced combat capabilities, transforming obsolete twentieth-century bombs into twenty-first-century precision projectiles.
Russian engineers from the State Research and Production Enterprise Basalt guarantee the creation of modernized aerial bombs that will be in no way inferior in efficiency to American ones, but will have a lower production cost. Depending on the goals set, the improvement of bombs will be based on the introduction into the walls of the ammunition body of a unit or a set of specialized modules, which will include mechanisms for deploying wings, control systems, and precision satellite and inertial navigation correction systems. Such kits can be retrofitted both to existing aerial bombs at the disposal of the Russian Air Force, and to all those that have been improved and are being created at the moment.
This approach will make it possible to increase the effectiveness and targeting of the FAB, thereby obtaining effective high-precision weapons that can be used at low altitude, avoiding enemy air defense systems. The advantage of aerial bombs with MPC is that the warhead weight is 2/3 of the initial weight of the projectile, while in analogues its share is only 1/6 - 1/5 of the starting weight.
Regarding the cost of such ammunition, such improved bombs will cost no more than 5-10 times the cost of a conventional bomb, which is much cheaper than modern guided missiles or adjustable FABs. For the first time, the Basalt team showed their new creation during the Aero India event in 2003, held in Bangalore.
In 2009, during the Max event in the Russian Federation, Basalt employees demonstrated the FAB-500M62 with an installed MPC. The FAB-500M62 aircraft bomb is the most common Russian aircraft bomb, which is at the disposal of the armies of numerous world states. MPCs are purely aerodynamic systems that do not have electrical installations or jet engines. The idea is to create inexpensive ammunition that can be installed on combat and strategic aircraft directly at airfields. The module includes wind adjustment devices for the bomb and specially designed wings that unfold during flight. To use aerial bombs on which MPCs are installed, a basic sighting system is used.
Basalt specialists developed 4 different (in layout) variations of improved aerial bombs for mounting MPCs on them:
- The first variation involves equipping the bomb with a conventional “simple” MPC module - for which only a simple model of a flight correction and controlled planning device is installed. With this approach, the module is attached to the bomb body, and all kinds of electronic control systems are not installed. In this case, you can use an aerial bomb at basic distances of 6000-8000 m, but from the lowest possible altitude of up to 100 m, and not from the 3000-4000 m accepted for such FABs, which is why the carrier aircraft becomes a simple target for enemy air defenses.
- The second variation involves, in addition to mounting the MPC, also a small-sized module for control with guidance inertial devices, making it possible to make the flight of the aerial bomb more stable, bringing it to the planned coordinates of use. With such a modification, the release distance will be 12,000-15,000 meters while absolutely maintaining a high level of targeted target destruction.
- The third variation implies a serious increase in the level of accuracy in eliminating the enemy. In this modification, in addition to the INS and MPK, the ammunition is also equipped with satellite digital navigation devices of the GLONASS or GPS types. This allows you to significantly increase the launch range to 40,000-60,000 meters. The error in hitting the target in this version does not exceed 10 meters.
- The fourth variation implies an increase in the distance of using an aerial bomb. In addition to the MPK and INS, the ammunition is equipped with a pulsating jet engine, which will increase the effective target engagement distance to 80,000-100,000 meters.
The presence of MPK in freely dropped ammunition makes it possible to use bombs far from the range of enemy air defense fire. Improved ABSP with installed INS, MPC and GPS (or INS, MPC, GPS and a jet engine) receive the latest combat methods of application, which bring them as close as possible to high-precision weapons, unattainable for enemy air defense. Such aerial bombs are extremely effective, but are much cheaper to produce.
In the future, these devices may be supplemented with other technological solutions, thereby turning a basic aerial bomb into a real adjustable munition. The MPK is recommended for use on advanced incendiary large high-explosive aerial bombs weighing 0.5 tons of the FZAB-500M type, which has excellent streamlining and is as close as possible to the FAB-500 M-62 in weight and size. FZAB-500M penetrates reinforced concrete slabs 0.2 meters thick and forms up to hundreds of fires during detonation. Incendiary fragments scatter around at a distance of up to 80 meters when using an AVT-E type detonator. The use of the MPC makes it possible for an aerial bomb to solve the same tasks as free-falling aerial bombs, but from a much lower height than when using standard ammunition.
For example, instead of the usual 3000-5000 m for an aerial bomb, ammunition equipped with MPC is dropped from 100 or 200 meters, and the accuracy and range of eliminating the enemy is not lost at all. After passing all testing processes, the newest modules will be handed over to the military personnel of the Russian Federation.
The Patriot air defense system demonstrates low effectiveness in the fight against high-explosive aerial bombs, which the Russian Federation allegedly uses in Ukraine. This was reported by the Business Insider portal 24 September 2023. It pointed out, citing Alexey Melnik, an expert at the Razumkov think tank in Kiev, that the interception of high-explosive aircraft bombs, which the Russian Armed Forces allegedly used during a special operation, turned out to be “especially painful” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). According to the expert, similar shells were used 30-50 years ago in the USSR, but now Russia has modified them, equipping them with “GPS modules and gliding propellers,” which made it possible to increase their guidance accuracy.
These bombs, unlike long-range missiles, remain in the air for “a little over a minute,” which “makes them difficult to intercept.” According to some experts, as cited by the portal, the leading anti-missile systems of Western countries, such as the Patriot air defense system, were not conceived as a means of combating such projectiles, which makes them ineffective against high-explosive aircraft bombs. According to Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat, as reported by Business Insider, “there is no point in intercepting such shells.” The only rational way to combat such bombs is to suppress enemy aircraft, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are confident.
The domestic analogue of the American JDAM-ER, although created in rather artisanal conditions, performed its function with dignity. Aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces strike at enemy targets with the possibility of flight correction and without entering the air defense coverage area. Iranian developers claim that their upgraded aerial bombs are capable of hitting even targets such as a single infantry fighting vehicle or a tank at a distance of about 60 km. Presumably, the device uses inertial or satellite guidance systems.
The telegram channel Fighterbomber wrote about this 22 February 2023. "For four months now, bombers, fighters and long-range aircraft have been operating with guided weapons from distances inaccessible to enemy air defense.... Only aviation of "musicians" [ed= Wagner Group] goes purely for classic bombing with "uncontrolled cast iron". Recently, the interest of all types of aircraft in enemy air defense and radar systems has increased manifold, and work on their destruction is going on more intensively than it was during the first six months of the NMD. They beat her now with everything they can. But the enemy's air defense systems are still quite enough to nullify our aircraft in a couple of weeks, if they are thrown into the rush, as in March of last year. The losses of our aviation from the counteraction of crests over the last months have decreased to almost zero. Separately, I clarify on our JDAM, which we call UMPC. It is used almost every day, many times a day, and not one bomb at a time. Hundreds of bombs have already been dropped from the UMPC*. Of course, it has flaws, because it is essentially made on the knee."
The Russians have a large stockpile of aerial bombs, in particular the FAB-500. This makes it possible to convert them into guided ones and use them instead of more expensive cruise missiles, the spokesman of the Air Force of AFU said on the air of the telethon 20 March 2023. Gliding / range extension kits are not so much, and there are thousands of FAB 250 and FAB 500 bombs in storage.
Highly effective unguided and guided munitions such as, for example, cluster bombs, laser, infra-red, and television guided "smart" missiles which are launched from manned aircraft are in the weapons inventories of many nations. However, since the range of such munitions is limited, it is necessary that the launching aircraft come very close to the target. This presents high exposure of such aircraft to surface-to-air missiles and guns. To reduce this risk, it is therefore highly desirable to increase the stand-off range of the munition so that such munition can be launched a greater distance from the target. Several attempts have been made in the prior art to overcome this problem. Other systems have been developed to extend the range of certain types of munitions and to provide guidance and control.
It was known to have on missiles, aircraft and similar mechanisms, wings which can be moved from a stowed to an active position or from a trailing to an extended position, the purpose generally being to allow the wings to be positioned according to requirements, such as in the case of navy planes where it is necessary to fold the wings or in the case of high speed aircraft where it is necessary to use swing wings. It is thus known to so mount the wings on the fuselage or body of a missile that they can be variously positioned according to requirements.
Various attempts have been made to add airfoil surfaces to munitions or missiles to provide control and extended range capability. Prior art generally include multiple pop out flight surfaces, an extendible pair of wings or in the present case of joined wings, they are generally comprised of front and rear spars with flexible coverings to join the spars forming a single aerodynamic surface. All these designs were either fragile, produced insufficient lift for heavy weapons, expensive if they contained control mechanisms or could not be extended into a flight configuration after launch from an aircraft or ground launch mechanism such as a tube.
This device overcomes the shortcoming of prior art munitions by extending the stand-off range of munitions a sufficient distance so that such munitions can be launched from aircraft at a location where such aircraft have substantially less vulnerability to attack. This end result is achieved by means of a range extension device which can be attached to the munition by a simple retrofit.
The device comprises a central main body "saddle" structure in which control and sensing elements are mounted. Mounted on the saddle are a pair of pop-out wings which are folded together prior to launch but which are extended to their flying positions once the munition is launched.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, GNPP Bazalt has been developing a full-scale development of a special unified set of planning and correction modules (MPC) to equip them with free-falling aviation bombing weapons - high-explosive bombs and disposable bomb clusters. A similar approach to the modernization of aerial bombs is already being used in the United States, where, under the JDAM program, guided bombs of the GBU-31, GBU- 32,. GBU-38 etc. with completely new combat capabilities, giving the bombs of the 20th century the properties of precision weapons of the 21st century.
The intention of the design was to provide an extendible wing kit that could be easily attached to an existing guided munition or missile and result in an improvement to the range performance and maneuverability of said munition or missile to a degree where weapons could be effectively employed over a larger area and aircraft exposure to point defenses could be significantly reduced. The design is intended to ensure that launch platform performance is not degraded by excessive installed drag or space requirements and that the extendible wing kit is easily applied to numerous munitions in inventory and development as well as a wide spectrum of launch platforms.
The domestic developer - GNPP "Basalt" - promised a significantly lower cost of upgrading aviation ammunition than American ones. Depending on the task being solved, the refinement will consist in “hanging” on the body of a conventional free-falling bomb one or more special functional modules, including a folding wings system, control system units, inertial navigation and satellite correction. It will be possible to equip with such kits both the free-fall bombs in service with the Air Force, and all new and modernized ones. The program will improve the accuracy and functionality of free-falling bombs and, depending on the completeness of the configuration, obtain high-precision weapons used from low altitudes outside the area of objective air defense .
The advantages of air bombs with the MPK are that the mass of the payload in the bomb reaches approximately 70% of the launch mass, while in a similar missile it is only 15-20%. As for the cost, according to the Bazalt State Research and Production Enterprise, it will be no more than 5-10 times the cost of the bomb itself, which is significantly lower than the cost of new adjustable bombs and guided missiles.
For the first time, GNPP "Basalt" demonstrated its new development of the planning and correction module (MPK) at the aerospace salon "Aero India 2003", which was held in Bangalore. In Russia, at MAKS-2009 in the Zhukovsky State Research and Production Enterprise, Bazalt presented a model and information on the FAB-500M62 high-explosive aerial bomb with a planning and correction module (IPC). The FAB-500M62 aerial bomb is one of the most massive domestic aerial bombs, which is still in service with the air forces of many countries of the world. Apparently then the RF Ministry of Defense was not interested in this.
Priority was given to the integration of the SVP-24 "Gefest" aiming system. The idea behind the Gefest is that it's basically a digital bomb sight. By using satellite data of the locations of the carrier and the target, it calculated the parameters of atmospheric pressure, air humidity, wind speed, flight speed, issues the flight parameters and automatically drops unguided bombs on the autopilot.
The integration of SVP-24 Gefest was widely compared to American JDAM in the Russian media who were critical of the single-use JDAM and praised their "smart planes". In favor of the effectiveness of this approach, they used as an argument the combat experience in Syria, where the bombers launched carpet bombardments from 5-6 km above, so that air defense weapons could not reach them. However, the reality turned out to be not that favorable and now this crooked guidance kit is praised traditionally as a "one-of-a-kind" solution. At the same time, specialized russian media admit the resemblance to JDAM and hope it will make up for the backlog.
The planning and correction module (MPC) is a purely aeromechanical system in which there are no engines or even electrical systems. The idea is to make a very cheap device that could, depending on the tactical situation, be attached to a free-fall bomb directly on the airfield. The module includes special wings that unfold in flight and a wind drift correction system. For the use of aviation bombs equipped with a planning and correction module, a regular sighting system is used.
Equipping air bombs with the MPK significantly expands the area of destruction of these weapons, gives them new combat capabilities and, in combination with the bomb and the MPK, the carrier increases the combat effectiveness of the latter. Aviation ammunition FAB-500M62 with a planning and correction module (IPC) is designed to destroy military-industrial facilities, railway junctions, lightly armored and vulnerable vehicles, manpower, military field installations. The presence of a planning and correction module (IPC) on a typical free-falling bomb makes it possible to use ammunition outside the range of fire weapons of a potential enemy’s object air defense. The upgraded ABSP in the MPK + INS / GPS and MPK + INS / GPS + engine configurations acquire completely new qualities that actually move them into the category of a full-fledged high-precision weapon used outside the enemy’s air defense coverage area, but with greater efficiency at a much lower cost. In the future, these modules can be built up by various systems, turning an ordinary free-fall bomb into a full-fledged gliding and adjustable bomb.
The MPK module is also proposed to be used on the modernized high-explosive incendiary bomb of 500 kg FZAB-500M caliber, which has a streamlined shape and is close in weight and size to the FAB-500 M-62. The thickness of the reinforced concrete slab penetrated by the FZAB-500M bomb is 200 mm, during the explosion it creates up to 100 combustion centers, burning pieces of the fire mixture are scattered within a radius of up to 70-80 m Fuse - AVT-E.
The use of the planning and correction module (IPC) makes it possible to solve the same problems that free-fall bombs face, only from significantly lower heights than these bombs are usually used. For example, instead of 3–5 km, bombs equipped with the module can be used from heights of 100–200 meters, without losing either in range or in accuracy of hitting targets. After testing is completed, a new planning and correction module will be proposed for adoption by the Russian army.
The general concept of the weapon is to mount a bracket along the bomb with a set of folding wings and a movable tail: unlike the Western Mk 80 series bombs, the tail section of the FAB-500M62 bomb is permanently welded to the body, so it was necessary to keep the fixed fins. The guidance system installed inside the bracket is based on the GLONASS satellite receiver. It allows attacking only stationary targets whose coordinates have been previously determined and entered into the navigation system.
What draws attention in UMPK is the very low quality of the entire structure, although it must be taken into account that the only available photo shows a hastily built prototype. It is doubtful that under wartime conditions there would be time to thoroughly test the reliability of all mechanisms under all possible conditions. Also, the method of attaching the module to the body of the bomb does not look particularly aerodynamically optimized, which probably reduces the weapon's performance (especially its range) and may cause numerous operational limitations.
Despite the imperfections noted, the Russian Air Force had finally received the large-caliber modular ammunition it has been asking for for over 20 years. In 2009, the design office of the 558th Aviation Repair Plant in Belarus came up with a similar proposal called Module-A. At that time, none of these proposals met with the interest of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
The main priority of the army at that time was the replacement of basic types of tactical aircraft. Purchases of new machines of the Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35 types were associated with high financial outlays and were a measurable indicator of the success of Minister Sergei Shoigu's reforms. In the annual reports on the state of modernization of the armed forces, the percentage of modernity of aviation systematically reached higher and higher values. At that time, there was not much thought about purchasing modern ammunition for these machines.
Even the military intervention in Syria, which began in 2015, did not raise the issue of acquiring stocks of precision-guided munitions among the decision-makers. On the contrary - Russia was delighted with the new SWP-24 ballistic computer developed by Gefest i T, which allowed the destruction of point targets with unguided bombs. As if by the side information that a good result was obtained only by covering the target area with a salvo of 6-8 half-ton FABs. However, it was not omitted to emphasize that the attacks could be carried out at a lower cost than using a single Western bomb with the JDAM module.
Of course, when the entire area was razed to the ground, collateral damage was horrendous, but it was in line with the calculations of the VKS command, which hoped to quickly break the will to resist among the civilian population. Needless to say, the Syrian rebels' anti-aircraft defense was virtually non-existent, limited to barreled weapons and a few man-portable missile systems. Russian planes operating at medium altitude in such circumstances were basically in no danger, so they could safely fly directly over the target.
Only the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, where a quantitatively strong and well-organized multi-layer anti-aircraft defense was encountered, forced the frantic search for a solution in the stand-off class , which would be possible for mass use. Defense Express reported the first documented usage of this Russian kit in Ukraine on 12 March 2023, as Russian aircraft used it to bomb the northwestern part of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, although the bomb didn’t explode back then.
On 12 March 2023, an unexploded ordnance was found in the suburbs of occupied Donetsk, which is the first tangible evidence of the use by the Russian air force of precision gliding bombs, which are supposed to be an equivalent of the Western JDAM-ER system. A fragment of the module with folded wings, separated from the body by the force of the impact, was visible. FAB-500 M62 guided bombs with the so-called unified gliding and correction module UMPK (Unificirovannyj Nabor Modulje Planirownia i Korrekcji), entered action on a larger scale carried by WKS aircraft at the beginning of January 2023. However, the combat debut of this weapon probably took place much earlier - perhaps already at the end of September 2022, but the use of the old bomb in the new assembly on a negligible scale did not attract much attention, or its effect was attributed to other types of ammunition.
The photos from Donetsk showed the wreckage of the same kit that was used to attack Sumy Oblast on 24 March. Overnight into 24 March 2023, the Russian troops attacked Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Oblast with Su-35 fighter jets that dropped “more than ten guided air bombs” from Russia across the border, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on the national telethon. “It is an extremely big threat when guided air bombs, gliding bombs, can fly far and the aircraft do not enter the kill zone of our air defenses,” he said. Later, the Air Force Command updated that Russian tactical aircraft were launched from two Russian airfields, Morozovsk and Akhtubinsk – ten Su-35 fighters launched 11 guided aerial bombs and one Kh-31P missile at Sumy Oblast.
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