Russia’s glide bomb campaign is rapidly losing its effectiveness as Ukrainian electronic warfare units jam satellite guidance along the frontline, Forbes reported on February 26. The Russian social media outlet denied it. Recall that the satellite-guided KAB and UMPK bombs, which can glide more than 25 miles to their targets, were considered a “miracle weapon” by Russian military analysts. According to Forbes, Ukrainian jamming has also disrupted Russian drones, forcing Moscow to use more expensive fiber-optic UAVs that are immune to radio interference.
Indeed, the percentage of accurate hits of their bombs has decreased in some areas, but according to Russian technicians, all these percentages are local in nature. The first place where the UMPK (munition guidance kits) encountered the REB problem was one of the most difficult areas, namely Donetsk. But after changing the module to another type, which has a different antenna, the bombs began to hit precisely again.
The second place where problems were encountered was the Kursk direction, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces brought a lot of REBs, but the problem was solved here too by changing the antenna to the UMPK system. The Russians have learned from their mistakes, however, and therefore from social sources it seems that improved UMPKs are being produced in order to overcome Russian electronic warfare devices.
According to technicians at the front, UMPKs with a head like the X-38ML, the so-called “laser”, which flies on the laser spot, are not appropriate. In a chat exchange it is written: “First, there is the X-38, second, we need a cheap UMPK, third, who will illuminate the (air) road, apart from the Orlan-30 UAV, which has also encountered problems?”.
“The Russian Air Force’s equipment is very reliable, but it is not infallible,” the Russians themselves admit, “each mechanism has a certain capacity; in addition, a colossal load falls on the shoulders of the engineering staff, who work non-stop to prepare an armada of aircraft to fly again, the same goes for the flight crew, because the number of aircraft is high in three months of war more is flown than in a year in peacetime.”
Graziella Giangiulio
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