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Jedan malo stariji tekst ,nece da skodi ... ima i o istorijatu sovjetskih vodjenih UBS
Citat:Russia Testing New Guided Bombs
by Michal Fiszer
Nov. 22, 2005
It was recently revealed that Russia is testing a new gliding guided bomb, as well as a new laser-guided bomb.
The UPAB-1500KR ("izdyelye K-070" or "product K-070") is the first Russian gliding bomb. It was based on the KAB-1500KR guided bomb, with folded wings added to achieve a gliding capability. According to Russian sources, the range of UPAB-1500KR is 50-70 km, when dropped from high altitude and at high speed. The target picture is transmitted from a datalink on the bomb and received by the Raduga (Moscow, Russia) APK-8 datalink pod attached to the fuselage of the host aircraft. When the bomb nears its target, the aircrew marks the target, and the bomb is then attacking it independently, at which point it is locked onto the target.
Russia is currently testing a new laser-guided bomb, the KAB-250L (seen here in the foreground), which is similar in appearance and in characteristics to the US GBU-12 Paveway II LGB.
The other new bomb being tested is the KAB-250L ("izdyelye K-045" or "product K-045") laser-guided bomb (LGB), similar in appearance and in characteristics to the US GBU-12 Paveway II LGB. Although there is not much information available on the KAB-250L, the bomb was recently developed by the FGUP State"s Scientific-Production Entity "Region." It has the same seeker as the KAB-500L/KAB-1500L , though in a modernized form. The bomb is controlled by front all-moving surfaces, while the tails are fixed. It is designed for export, as well as for domestic use. Testing of these bombs is being conducted by the 929th State's Aviation Test Center in Akhtubinsk, Russia.
All Russian and earlier Soviet guided bombs have been developed by the same organization – FGUP State's Scientific-Production Entity "Region" in Moscow. Various parts of the bombs, however, were developed by other companies.
In the late 1970s, Russia developed two new versions of the KAB-1500L: the KAB-1500L-F with a high-explosive (HE) warhead and the KAB-1500L-PR (seen here) with a penetration warhead.
For example, the Tubus-2 TV seeker used in the UPAB-1500KR, KAB-500KR, and KAB-1500KR (as well as the Kh-29T and Kh-59 Ovod missiles) was developed by NPO Impuls (Akhtubinsk, Russia), the 27N1 semi-active laser seeker for the KAB-500L and KAB-1500L ("izdyelye K-015" or "product K-015") was developed by the Geofizyka-ART Scientific-Technological Production Complex (formerly NPO Geofizyka) (Moscow, Russia), and the control systems for the bombs were developed by OAO Tambovskiy Zavod "Elektropribor" (Tambov Russia; KAB-500KR has SU-601 control system while KAB-1500KR has SU-609 control system). The warhead for both bombs warhead was developed by FGUP GNPP "Bazalt" (Krasnoarmeysk near Moscow, Russia).
A History of Soviet/Russian Guided Bombs
The first attempts at developing guided bombs were undertaken in the Soviet Union from 1938 to1942 and again from 1947 to 1955. The latter attempts resulted in development of two guided bombs: the UB-2000F "Tshaika" and UB-5000F "Kondor," based on 2,000- and 5,000-kg heavy bombs, respectively,with radio-command guidance systems. (A TV-command system was tested but not accepted into service, because all work was terminated in late 1957.) Work was conducted by the GSNII-642 scientific institute in Moscow and led by Aleksandr D. Nadiradze. On July 20, 1955, the Tshaika was accepted into service with the designation UB-2F ("Izdyelye 4A-22"). Two such bombs could be carried by by Tu-16 bomber under the wings, or one UB-2F bomb could be carried under fuselage by an Il-28 bomber. GSNII-642 was later merged with OKB-52 from Reutovo near Moscow, led by Vladimir Chelomei, who is best known for his work on the development of anti-ship missiles. Nadiradze transferred to NII-1 in Moscow (now the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technologies), where he later headed development of solid-state strategic missiles (among them, the Topol, known as the SS-25).
Soviet work on guided bombs restarted in late 1971, when NIIPGM (now the FGUP State's Scientific-Production Entity "Region") was tasked to develop 250- and 500-kg guided bombs. The requirement was for laser-guided bombs to be used by the aircraft equipped with laser illuminator. The KAB-500 bomb with a semi-active laser guidance system was ready in early 1973 (the KAB designation came from the Russian "Korrektiruyemaya Aviabomba" for "aerial bomb with corrected trajectory"). The bomb's development was headed by N.S. Privalov, who decided to modify the bomb's aerodynamics with large tails with control surfaces and small, fixed front stabilizers. Thus, he managed to keep the tail span of the bomb within the 750-mm limit set by the Soviet Air Force. The bomb was equipped with a 27N1 semi-active laser seeker placed on the gimbals in the front, which could cooperate with the Kaira fire-control system used on Su-24M and MiG-27K aircraft .
The 27N1 seeker can intercept the reflected laser signal from a distance of 5-7 km under conditions of 10-km visibility. The KAB-500, later redesignated KAB-500L, weighed 560 kg and had a 460-kg warhead with 200 kg of explosive. The bomb's length is just over 3 m, its diameter is 400 mm, and its tail span is 750 mm. The bomb could be dropped from altitudes from 500 to 5000 m at speeds of 550 to 1100 kmph. The maximum effective distance to the target for a drop is 9 km (assuming the seeker receives the illumination signal), while the minimum is 3 km. The bomb's accuracy is within 6-9 m.
While the UPAB-1500KR and KAB-250L are just now undergoing testing, the KAB-500S (seen here) is very close to entering service with Russian Air Force. Photo by Miroslav Gyurosi
Factory tests of the KAB-500L were completed in June 1974, and the first phase of state testing ended in August 1975. Production started in 1976, though the bomb was officially accepted into service no earlier than 1979, after the full complement of state tests was completed.
Already, though, between 1975 and 1977, the same company kicked off development of a whole family of guided bombs, and a version of the KAB-500L with cluster warhead was developed. It was designated the KAB-500L-K and was designed to attack small armored units. The bomb's warhead was developed based on the RBK-500 free-fall cluster bomb, which contained 266 PTAB-1 anti-tank bomblets. The weight of the KAB-500L-K's warhead was 405 kg, while the whole bomb weighed 525 kg. The remaining parameters did not change, except the minimum distance to the target for the bomb drop, which was reduced to 2 km.
Two other types of bombs with two different types of guidance were also developed. A TV-guided version of the KAB-500L, dubbed the KAB-500KR ("izdyelye K-07" or "product K-07"), was developed. It received the Tubus TV seeker, with a 3.2x3.2° field of view. It can be pointed +40° to the left and right, +35°/-57° vertically, and could rotate +45°. The seeker worked across a wide range of light levels and had a particularly interesting feature: It tracked the most highly contrasted objects in its field of view and not the target itself, homing the missile into the point market by pilot (or weapon-system officer), artificially calculated from the objects tracked. Thus, the target itself could be an object of very low contrast. The warhead of the KAB-500KR was reduced to 380 kg with just 100 kg of explosive but of a more powerful type. The bomb's weight was 530 kg, and its body diameter was reduced to 350 mm. The remaining data was the same as the KAB-500L, except for the accuracy, which was improved to within just 4 m. Work on the KAB-500KR bomb was prolonged, and it didn't enter service until the latter half of the 1980s.
The other direction taken in the development of guided bombs by the Soviet Union was the design of a new laser-guided bomb. In the late 1970s, NIIPGM (now the FGUP State's Scientific-Production Entity "Region") developed two new versions of the KAB-1500L: the KAB-1500L-F with a high-explosive (HE) warhead and the KAB-1500L-PR with a penetration warhead. The bomb has length of 4.600 m and a body diameter of 580 mm. The guidance system was the same one used on KAB-500L, but the control system was different. Now the bomb had folded wings (or tails) at the rear part of the bomb, with no control surfaces. When unfolded after drop, the tail span was 1.300 m. Small, moving control surfaces were placed in the front. The bomb weighed 1,560 kg, while the warhead weighed 1,180 kg for the HE variant, or 1,500 kg with a 1,120-kg penetration warhead. The KAB-1500L could be carried only by the Su-24M and could be dropped from altitudes of 1000-8000 m at the speeds of 550-1,100 kmph. The penetration warhead had ability to pierce 3 m of concrete, and against normal soil, the bomb would go to a depth of about 20 m before detonating.
The final version was the KAB-1500TK-PR, with its TV-guidance system. The bomb had a TV seeker and a radio link to the host platform. Contrary to the KAB-500KR, which was guided based on contrast, the KAB-1500TK was continuously guided to the target by the weapon-system officer, who observed the target picture seen by the bomb seeker on a TV screen in the cockpit. All variants of the KAB-1500 bombs entered service in the 1981-1985 timeframe, earlier for the Su-24M and later on Tu-22M3 strategic bomber aircraft. The Su-24M could carry two such bombs, while Tu-22M3 could carry as many as six.
The next phase of development of Soviet and then Russian guided bombs occurred over the years 1989 to 1993. In 1986 the chief designer of NPO Region became V.E. Mertsalov, replacing N.S. Privalov, who retired. Starting near the end of the 1980s, the KAB-500KR bomb with the Tubus-2 TV seeker was produced. The Tubus-2 has two fields of view: 12x16° for target observation before drop and 2.1x2.9° for detailed aiming before drop and for target track after drop. The seeker also had better resolution (520 lines) than the original Tubus seeker, enabling its use with the KAB-1500 bomb, which had higher drop altitudes. Thus, the KAB-1500KR ("izdyelye K-021" or "product K-021") was developed, which is a "drop-and-forget" type, like KAB-500KR. The crew marks the target and drops the bomb, which them homes itself on the target using picture contrast. The KAB-1500KR has length of 4.5 m and weighs 1475 kg, with a 1,075-kg warhead. The KAB-1500KR entered service in the early 1990s. Simultaneously, a further variant, dubbed the KAB-500KR-OD, was developed, equipped with fuel-air type of warhead. All of the bombs equipped with the Tubus-2 TV seeker have accuracy of within about 3 m.
The newest type of bombs developed by FGUP State's Scientific-Production Entity "Region" are the KAB-500S, UPAB-1500KR, and KAB-250L, with the latter two just now undergoing testing, as noted above. The KAB-500S, meanwhile, is very close to entering service with Russian Air Force. It will be used on new or modernized tactical aircraft – specifically, the Su-34 and Su-27SM – as well as Tu-160 aircraft (for more information on the KAB-500S.
Guided Bombs in Action
The guided bombs were treated by the Soviet Union as a "second-wave attack weapon." The majority of tactical aircraft were armed with guided missiles, and only Su-24M aircraft were armed with a mix of guided missiles and bombs. It was deemed that guided missiles were more suitable for the air-defense environment, enabling missile launches from low altitudes (200-500 m) and from greater standoff distances (7-10 km), at least protecting aircraft from air-defense missiles and anti-aircraft artillery. During the first wave of a strike, which was to be connected with the suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), missiles were to be used almost exclusively .The guided bombs had the advantage that they could be dropped more precisely from higher altitudes, once the ground-based medium- and long-range air-defense systems had already been already suppressed. So the second-wave strikes, conducted deep into enemy territory by Su-24M bombers, were to use the guided bombs against vital but small-sized targets, such as bunkers, command centers, bridges, etc. Interestingly collateral damage wasn't a concern for the Soviet Union, so it developed rather large bombs in the 500- and 1,500-kg class. Interest in smaller size bombs (250 kg class) has sprung up only recently.
The Soviet conflict in Afghanistan and, more recently, the Russian wars in Chechnya turned attention to guided bombs as the most suitable air-launched guided weapon. Guided bombs could be dropped precisely from altitudes out of range of small arms and man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) – practically the only air defense possessed by the enemy. The first combat use of Soviet guided bombs took place in 1988-1989, when the 143rd Bombardment Wing, flying Su-24Ms, dropped KAB-1500L bombs against Mujahedin hardened positions. The KAB-1500L was used again in late December 1995 to destroy a bridge over the Argun River, 10 km to the east from Grozny, in Chechnya. Guided bombs were further employed in both Chechen wars.
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