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Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)

American-made smart bombs are falling victim to Russian electronic jamming in Ukraine, causing them to miss their targets, according to leaked documents in April 2023and confirmed by a Defense Department official. “I do think there may be concern that the Russians may be jamming the signal used to direct the JDAMs, which would answer why these munitions are not performing in the manner expected and how they perform in other war zones,” said Mick Mulroy, a former Pentagon official and retired CIA officer.

The US intended to supply Ukraine with Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) equipment to convert unguided bombs into ‘smart’ ones. This was reported 15 December 2022 by The Washington Post with reference to high-ranking US officials. It is noted that sets of such equipment include global positioning devices to increase accuracy. In addition, they can be attached to various types of weapons, including ground-based ones. According to the publication, it was not yet known whether Joe Biden or any of his top national security advisers approved the proposed JDAM transfer to Ukraine.

Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a relatively inexpensive guidance kit for a conventional bomb manufactured by Boeing. It turns existing unguided general-purpose bombs into "smart" precision-guided weapons. Basic JDAM variants can be launched at a target from a distance of more than 28 km. Adding wings allows you to extend the range of using bombs to 70-80 km, and feature a target deviation of as little as 11 meters, when launched from compatible US aircraft. Their capabilities when fired from Ukraine’s Soviet-made jets are unknown, but thought to be lower (with a range of 40-50 km, and a 50-meter target deviation, according to Russian military observer Yuri Knutov).

In December 2022, NV reported that the United States was planning to provide Ukraine with advanced electronic equipment, the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which is capable of turning unguided aircraft munitions into "smart bombs." The systems include global positioning devices to improve accuracy and can be attached to various weapons and aircraft to form Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The U.S. military has used this technology for bombs weighing up to 900 kilograms, commonly used with bombers and fighters.

The Pentagon had not officially acknowledged that it is sending a modified version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), saying only that it will send "precision aviation munitions" as part of a $1.85 billion package announced on 21 December 2022. But two sources confirmed that it was JDAM.

JDAM-ER can be attached to unguided bombs. After falling, the bomb deploys its wings, which allows it to glide at a distance of up to 72 km and effectively triples the range of such bombs. The publication notes that the provision of such ammunition indicates that the United States and Ukraine have developed a method by which Soviet-era fighter jets used by the Armed Forces can launch JDAM-ER.

The Ukrainian Air Force could probably already use JDAM-ER bombs against the Russian invaders. The American military shared this with The War Zone 06 March 2023. According to the publication, U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker, Head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), as well as NATO’s Allied Air Command and U.S. Air Forces Africa (AFAFRICA), claimed that Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range precision-guided bombs, which can hit targets at up to 72 km away, were transferred to Ukraine.

It’s emphasized that he was specifically discussing the JDAM-ER. “Recently, we’ve just gotten some precision munitions [to Ukraine] that had some extended range and go a little bit further than the gravity drop bomb and has precision [guidance],” Hecker said. “That’s a recent capability that we were able to give them [Ukraine] probably in the last three weeks.” the website quoted the general as saying.

The announcement was made at a media roundtable taking place on the sidelines of the 2023 Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium, which opened on March 6 in Aurora, Colorado. Hacker also noted that JDAM gives Ukrainian forces the opportunity to hit "absolutely new sets of targets" that may be beyond the reach of existing air-based weapons and ground systems, in particular HIMARS/MLRS (with a warhead of about 90 kg).

The War Zone stressed that the total number of JDAM-ERs that Ukraine currently had was limited. It is estimated that in the years 1998-2016, the Boeing concern produced over 300,000 JDAM sets.

The exact configuration of JDAM-ER, which Ukraine received, was unknown. Hacker also called them GBU-62. However, the only previously known variant of the GBU-62 is the GBU-62(V)1/B, also known as the Quickstrike-ER, which combines the JDAM-ER kit with the 900kg Mk 64 Quickstrike. Although derived from the Mk 80 series of bombs, the Quickstrike sea mines are not intended for use as a general strike weapon.

In late February 2023, the Russian army used a new weapon against Ukraine for the first time - UPAB-1500B (index K029B) 1500 kg guided bombs. This was reported by Defense Express with reference to its own sources. The first use of this type of ammunition was recorded a against one of the facilities in Chernihiv region. It is noted that one of the wreckages had the remains of a marking that corresponds exactly to UPAB-1500B.

This bomb was first demonstrated in the export version in 2019. At the same time, it was reported that it had already been tested, put into service with Russian troops and received the first export orders. "The high threat of using the UPAB-1500B lies in the fact that it belongs to the planning, is equipped with an inertial and satellite navigation system and has a warhead weighing 1010 kg, designed to hit highly protected objects. It is declared that the bomb can be dropped 40 km from the target, for which the carrier must rise to a height of 14 km," the publication noted.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) used the US-supplied JDAM guided bomb in Donbass for the first time. This statement was made on 10 March 2023 edition of Klymenko Time. According to the publication, the bomb was used in the Kurdyumovka area near Artemovsk (Ukrainian name - Bakhmut) in the Donetsk People's Republic. As confirmation, the publication publishes a video of the explosion, which is distributed in Ukrainian Telegram channels. Official confirmation of the use of the JDAM bomb by the Ukrainian authorities and the military has not yet been received.

With US help, the Ukrainian Air Force adapted its JDAM-ERs to Su-27s, as well as Mikoyan MiG-29s, and possibly Sukhoi Su-24s. The Pentagon provided custom hard point kits fitted with digital data buses to make them compatible with Ukraine’s Soviet-era aircraft. The data bus provides the bomb with information about its location and speed while being dropped, with ground crews programming target coordinates into the bomb manually before the mission begins.

In the case of the JDAM-ER, the all-weather bomb kit comes with GPS guidance, and is designed to accommodate bombs with a payload of up to 2,000 pounds (over 900 kg). US-standard Mark 82 bombs souped-up JDAM-ER kits can reach a range of up 70 km+, and feature a target deviation of as little as 11 meters, when launched from compatible US aircraft. Their capabilities when fired from Ukraine’s Soviet-made jets are unknown, but thought to be lower (with a range of 40-50 km, and a 50-meter target deviation, according to Russian military observer Yuri Knutov).

JDAM kits are not adapted for installation on Soviet-made aerial bombs; combat aircraft of Ukrainian aviation did not have appropriate devices for dropping bombs of Western production. In order to drop a JDAM on a target, data on the location of the target and the location and speed of the carrier aircraft must be entered into the aerial bomb during flight. In order for such data to be "transferred" at all, a "smart" pylon is needed.

Ukraine modified MiG-29 fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force for the use of new weapons. A photo of such a fighter was published 21 June 2023 on the official page of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the photo, at least one Ukrainian MiG-29 flies with new and previously unseen hardpoints. Analysts from the American defense media The Drive believe that the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to publish this photo indicates that they are happy to demonstrate these new capabilities of the aircraft. New specific pylons, the aim of which is unclear, appeared at the place where MiG-29 had AKU-470 hardpoints for R-27R air-to-air missiles.

It is known that previously, Ukrainian MiG-29s were modified with a special pylon for launching American AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles. Now the aircraft, apparently, has been adapted to another type of weapon that had not been used before. These may be hardpoints for carrying JDAM-ER high-precision bombs, whose supply was previously announced, but it was not known which aircraft were adapted for them. Analysts at The Drive do not exclude the possibility that it involves electronic support devices (ESM) or a radar homing and warning receiver (RHWR).

The Ukrainian Air Force’s top brass has confirmed Kiev’s possession and use of US-provided Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) smart glide bomb kits. The Ukrainian Air Force showed off a JDAM-ER glide bomb kit on 24 August 2023, with the military branch’s X account posting a photo of Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk signing a JDAM-ER-equipped bomb attached to a customized hard point under the wing of a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter. Oleshchuk’s celebratory message of “Death to Moskals, for Ukraine,” (Moskal is a derisive term used by Ukrainian nationalists to refer to Russians) coincided with the 32nd anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence Day festivities.

For normal use, pilots of the Ukrainian Air Force will be forced to climb to heights at which Ukrainian aviation practically does not fly now. The maximum range of the JDAM-ER is 80 km, but this is possible only in one case - if the ammunition is used from a height of 10-12 km. At such altitudes, carrier aircraft turn into easily accessible targets for Russian long-range S-300V4 and S-400 air defense systems. It makes no sense to use bombs from a height of several hundred meters: the ammunition will burrow into the ground and explode far from the target.

The only way for Ukrainian Air Force pilots to use JDAM-ER is to make a "slide" directly in front of the drop point. In this case, the carrier of smart bombs will be in the zone of destruction of the military Tor-M2 or Buk-M3 air defense systems, capable of responding to the appearance of an air target much faster than the S-300 or S-400.

The biggest problem with the bombs is that for them to be used effectively, the Ukrainian aircraft carrying them need to approach to within range of Russian air defenses before dropping them. If they approach to within 20-140 km of their targets, they risk being downed by Russia’s medium-range air defenses, including Pantsir, Tor, and Buk missile systems.

At longer ranges, enemy jets can be targeted by S-300 and S-400 missile systems, which operate at standoff ranges (i.e. distances well beyond the range of the missiles carried by enemy planes) of between 75 and 400 km.

The latter capabilities put nearly all Ukrainian airspace east of the Dnepr River within range of Russian air defenses, and make the operations of military aircraft and helicopters highly dangerous, if the Russian MoD’s data on Ukrainian losses is anything to go by. On Friday alone, Russian forces reported shooting down two Ukrainian Su-25 jets over the Kherson and Donetsk regions, while a Russian representative in Zaporozhye said that Ukrainian forces had lost a fighter jet during fighting for the strategic Zaporozhye town of Rabotino.

If the bombs are dropped, then there is another problem. JDAM-ERs are based on GBU-62 air bombs. Their flight speed is not as high as that of HIMARS MLRS missiles or Tochka-U operational-tactical missiles. Due to the large size and special shape of the ammunition, such bombs are clearly visible on radar and can be hit within a few seconds after being dropped.

Another problem is the JDAM-ER kits’ dependence on GPS guidance. In May 2023, US media reported that the Russian military’s sophisticated electronic warfare equipment can jam the JDAMs’ guidance systems and cause them to go off course and miss their targets. A US official confirmed that the Pentagon has been “advising” Ukraine’s forces to try to identify and destroy Russian jammers to prevent them from doing their job defeating JDAMs and other advanced US-made systems, including HIMARS rocket artillery.

Russia's anti-aircraft missile and jamming capabilities demonstrate in practice a point that US-based Russian journalist and political analyst Caleb Maupin observed in a conversation with Sputnik last month: that while the US and its allies have been able to use their militaries to effect in conflicts against countries with limited or non-existent air defenses like Iraq, Libya, and Yugoslavia, their capabilities weaken dramatically when forced to fight an actual peer adversary like Russia, something the proxy war in Ukraine has amply demonstrated.

Knutov told Sputnik 26 August 2023 that it’s difficult to predict where exactly Ukraine will attempt to deploy its JDAM-ERs. “From time to time, Ukrainian aviation operates in the south Donetsk direction and in the Zaporozhye direction, including using similar bombs. An especially large attack was launched by Ukrainian forces in the Zaporozhye direction using various bombs, Storm Shadow cruise missiles, JDAMs and HIMARS rockets. Moreover, they used these expensive, high-precision munitions specifically against trenches. Not specific targets, but against trenches held by our servicemen. This speaks to the Ukrainian Army’s desire to advance, even if just a little bit, at any cost, and to then declare to the whole world that Ukrainian forces managed to win at least some significant victory,” in its flagging counteroffensive, the Russian observer said.