Steph Deschamps / June 23, 2024
On Thursday June 20, the Russian army dropped its 3,000-kilogram FAB-UMPK gliding bomb for the first time. According to La Voix du Nord, this is the heaviest bomb ever used in this conflict. The strike took place against a building in the village of Tykhe, in the Kharkiv region, which the Ukrainian army has liberated in recent days.
A video posted by FighterBomber, a pro-Russian account, the explosion blows over a very wide area, leveling several buildings and causing the roof of one building to take off. A large crater is also visible. Perhaps Ukrainian soldiers had taken refuge in these buildings, but the video doesn't show this.
While the bomb weighs 3,000 kilos, its explosive charge is 1,400 kilos. By way of comparison, American ATACMS missiles weigh 1,670 kg for a warhead that can vary from 160 to 560 kg.
Russia has already dropped hundreds of gliding bombs on Ukraine since the beginning of the year. These death devices are equipped with a guidance kit that enables them to be dropped by plane dozens of kilometers from the front line and glide to their target.
Until now, however, the Russian army has only used bombs weighing between 500 and 1,500 kilos. The FAB-3000 is making a comeback in the Russian arsenal. This bomb is far from modern. In a long and detailed article, the BBC points out that it was the USSR that developed this weapon in the 1940s (!) and that it was used extensively in Afghanistan in the 1980s.