ukrainian air force renews offensive in kursk with french bombs
Ukrainians are endeavouring to hold the Kursk region for peace negotiations, while the Russians have deployed significant forces there to reclaim territory. It turns out that this area is important enough for the Ukrainians to utilise the remnants of their air force capabilities. We present what exactly the Ukrainians attacked with.
Ukraine currently has remnants of its air force, and in the best condition, apart from a handful of F-16s, are the MiG-29 planes remaining in service. Additionally, a number of Su-27, Su-24, and assault Su-25 aircraft remain operational, but due to losses, wear, and lack of available spare parts, the situation is less than ideal.
It is worth noting that the Ukrainian fleet of MiGs has been strengthened by more than 20 units from Poland and Slovakia, and there is a repair base for them in Poland and Bulgaria. For this reason, most combat missions are performed by these aircraft.
Below, you can see footage of a pair of AASM Hammer guided bombs striking two buildings in the Kursk region. The execution of the air strike suggests a significant target, such as a field command centre or a location where Russian drone operators are based.
unique aerial bomb from France
Ukrainians are regularly receiving small batches of AASM Hammer (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) guided bombs from France, which prove more effective in their operational conditions than the American JDAM-ER.
AASM Hammer bombs are modular, added to standard unguided bombs from the Mk family. Currently, Safran produces kits for the MK82 and MK84 bombs weighing approximately 230 kg and 900 kg, respectively, but there were plans for a model for the 450 kg Mk83.
In addition to the standard module with a guidance system, flight correction, and folding wings, the French concept also involved adding a solid-fuel rocket motor. This allows the bomb to accelerate after being dropped even at low altitudes, increasing its range in such conditions up to 15 km.
This is extremely useful because flying at low altitude due to the radar horizon ensures protection against medium-range anti-aircraft systems, reducing radar detection to 50 km or less. This makes systems like the Pantsir-S1 or the Tor the main threats, with a range of 15 km or less. In contrast, when dropped from a high altitude, the range of the AASM Hammer glide bombs is said to exceed 70 km.
Moreover, French bombs, when equipped with the appropriate guidance head (which are interchangeable), are resistant to electronic warfare systems that reduce hit precision. The basic option is the classic tandem of INS and GPS navigation susceptible to interference, but heads guided by a reflected laser beam or with a thermal imaging camera that sees a thermal image of the target are available.
The latter two provide in practice pinpoint hit precision (1-3 meters) under all conditions, even on a moving target. The laser beam-guided head is an old solution requiring the target to be illuminated by a plane or, for instance, a drone's laser designator until hit.
The optoelectronic head, on the other hand, is the latest and most expensive solution of the "fire and forget" type, seeing the thermal image of the target and independently tracking it thanks to onboard electronics and machine learning algorithms.
