Russia's new "miraculous weapon" challenges Ukraine, F‑16s could be the answer

Russians have recently begun to employ a new tactic of bombings. Every day, they drop hundreds of bombs along the front line - among them are KABs weighing several hundred pounds, which analysts from the DeepState profile on Telegram describe as a "miraculous weapon" - reports Forbes. Delivering F-16s could help counter the KABs.

DeepState notes that the Ukrainian military "practically has no means" to resist the Russians attacking the defenders' positions with glide bombs KAB. Forbes explains that the difficult situation at the front is illustrated by the battles for Avdiivka when Ukrainian defence was unsustainable after an area was bombarded with over 100 bombs a day for several days.

– All buildings and structures simply "turn into an abyss" upon the arrival of even one KAB - claims Yehor Zukor from the 3rd Independent Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Forbes notes that in mid-March, the attacks using KABs ceased, but the Russians quickly resumed them, increasing the frequency of the bombings. For Ukrainians, this is a bad sign, as they currently have no effective solution to stop these air attacks - we read. General Ivan Havryluk estimates that "help should come from delivering F-16 fighters."

Forbes writes that F-16s have better sensors, self-defence systems, and missiles than the current Su and MiG fighters. If Kyiv is willing to risk its precious F-16s, it will be able to repel bomber attacks.

The KAB-500 family bombs are Russian designs with corrected flight and a weight of about 500 kg (about 1100 lbs), depending on the version. They are based on the FAB-500 bomb and generally have a general purpose. One of the variants of KABs is KAB-500L, which is a laser-guided weapon containing about 450 kg (about 992 lbs) of explosives.

Its accuracy is defined at a maximum of 7 meters (about 23 ft) and can be used to conduct an attack in difficult terrain. The bomb dropped from, among others, Su-24 or MiG-27 is laser-guided, meaning that once the target is locked on, it is just dropped (from an altitude of 500 to 5000 meters (about 1640 to 16400 ft) and speeds of 550 to 1100 km/h (about 341 to 683 mph)). The electronics do the rest of the work (so-called drop and forget).

Meanwhile, F-16 fighters, which are to be the remedy for Russian bombs from the KAB family, are machines accelerating to speeds of nearly 2 Mach, or about 2100 km/h (about 1305 mph), with good manoeuvrability. Their advantage is also the additional armament (besides the basic M61 Vulcan cannon cal. 20 mm), which can include, among others, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, AIM-120 AMRAAM, or JDAM bombs.