When a glide bomb exploded at an industrial facility in Zaporizhzhia on Jan. 8, the 13 lifeless, and 122 injured marked the best variety of civilian casualties in a Russian assault on Ukraine in nearly two years.
Regardless of being probably the most primitive and quite a few weapons within the Russian Air Pressure's arsenal, Ukraine's refined, Western-supplied air protection methods are nonetheless ill-equipped to cope with the menace they pose.
Compounding the issue, Russia continues to switch and adapt its glide bombs, rising their vary and damaging energy, that means increasingly Ukrainian cities and cities are coming below menace.
"Aerial glide bombs have turn out to be one of many best threats to civilians in cities alongside the frontline," Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), mentioned in an announcement on Jan. 9.
"They’re additionally one of many major the reason why the variety of killed and injured in 2024 elevated by 30 per cent in contrast with 2023."
Based on HRMMU figures, Russian glide bombs killed 360 Ukrainian civilians in 2024, and injured 1,861, a threefold improve in fatalities, and a sixfold improve in accidents in comparison with 2023.
What's a glide bomb?
A glide bomb is a typical air-dropped bomb modified with wings and infrequently a satellite tv for pc navigation system, to allow them to be launched from a distance somewhat than immediately over a goal.
Their origins date again so far as World Battle II, and have been utilized in conflicts since together with Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Russian glide bombs are sometimes Soviet-era FAB weapons upgraded with a Unified Gliding and Correction Module (UMPK), which permits it to glide to its goal, however Moscow can also be creating newer, devoted variations.

Russian forces make use of numerous sizes of glide bombs weighing 250, 500, and 1,000 kilograms (kg). Probably the most highly effective in Russia's arsenal is the FAB-3000, a 3,000-kilogram high-explosive bomb, which the Russian Protection Ministry claimed in March had gone into mass manufacturing.
In July, it launched footage of what it mentioned was a FAB-3000 being dropped on Ukrainian territory for the primary time, saying it has a fight energy that "can’t be ignored."
Crucially, changing an unguided "dumb bomb" right into a glide bomb is reasonable. Every conversion prices round $20,000, far lower than cruise and ballistic missiles that value tens of millions of {dollars} to provide.
Russian forces started utilizing glide bombs in opposition to Ukraine in early 2023 to compensate for the shortage of precision-guided munitions, dropping a whole lot per week, in line with figures from Kyiv.

Glide bombs are best in opposition to static targets, together with bridges, command posts, bunkers, and weapons depots, and Russia has used them to nice impact on the entrance strains as they advance slowly in jap Ukraine.
"Regardless of many issues and shortfalls, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) is studying, and adapting its ways in a continually altering fight atmosphere," Federico Borsari, a fellow on the Heart for European Coverage Evaluation (CEPA), instructed the Kyiv Unbiased.
However Moscow has additionally used them to devastating impact in opposition to Ukrainian inhabitants facilities, with Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts notably laborious hit.
And on Jan. 11, border settlements in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast had been hit for the primary time, with increasingly coming below menace because the entrance line strikes west.

Why are glide bombs so harmful?
Glide bombs are highly-destructive, and extremely troublesome to shoot down.
"Glide bombs, in contrast to missiles, do not need a propulsion system, in order that they don't generate a lot warmth and are due to this fact largely proof against interception by infrared homing missiles, just like the AIM-9 Sidewinder, or the FIM-92 Stinger," Jacob Parakilas, analysis chief in RAND Europe's Defence, Safety and Justice Analysis Group, instructed the Kyiv Unbiased.
"Glide bombs […] are largely proof against interception by infrared homing missiles."
Parakilas mentioned anti-aircraft weapons just like the German-made Gepard are simpler at taking pictures down glide bombs, however their quick vary makes them ineffective at policing the a whole lot of miles of entrance line in Ukraine.
"The restricted vary of these methods signifies that they must be proper on prime of the goal, and in a position to determine and open fireplace on it in a really quick time window — which is troublesome even when adequate numbers of these methods had been obtainable," he mentioned.
The vary of the weapons additionally permits the Russian fighter jets that launch them to remain out of vary of Ukraine's superior air protection methods such because the U.S.-supplied Patriot.
Ukraine did have a string of successes early final yr, downing a number of Russian army planes of the categories used to launch glide bombs.
However positioning air protection belongings so near the entrance strains is dangerous, and after Russian forces allegedly managed to destroy two Patriot launchers in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine seems to have deserted the tactic.
"Russia can exploit gaps in Ukraine's air protection, which is stretched skinny and must cowl a really massive territory," Borsari mentioned.
How are Russian glide bombs evolving?
Russia is continually upgrading UMPK kits to extend the vary and accuracy of its glide bombs.
When interviewed by the Kyiv Unbiased in Might of final yr, specialists mentioned the vary of glide bombs being utilized by Russia was "typically thought-about to not exceed 50-60 kilometers."
However within the months since, quite a few modifications imply newer fashions can now fly as much as 90 kilometers, inserting many extra Ukrainian civilians inside their lethal attain.


Borsari mentioned that individual consideration must be paid to the comparatively new and extra superior UMPB-D-30SN system which, along with wings and a steerage system, additionally has a small jet-propulsion engine which extends the glide bomb's vary.
Then there are the enhancements to the digital methods. Russian forces have been enhancing the navigation methods that information the UMPK by way of satellite tv for pc, permitting it to be extra correct.
They’re additionally usually outfitted with Kometa antennas which stabilize satellite tv for pc communications alerts, and are notably immune to digital warfare countermeasures.
How can Ukraine defeat the glide bomb menace?
In lieu of an efficient technique of concentrating on glide bombs in flight, specialists say Ukraine's finest choices are to focus on each the planes that drop them, in addition to the manufacturing and storage services they go via earlier than they're used.
"Ukraine's allies ought to prioritize dashing up the pipeline for delivering, supporting, and offering coaching for the crews of F-16s, which might goal and push again the Russian jets dropping glide bombs," Parakilas mentioned.

"Including different air protection fighters — as France has promised to do with the Mirage 2000 and Sweden has thought-about with the Gripen — would additionally assist, though each new sort of plane added will increase the complexity of Ukraine's supporting infrastructure and provide chain," he added.
Ukraine's long-running, long-range drone strike marketing campaign has reportedly had successes concentrating on websites the place Russia shops FAB bombs, most just lately in a sequence of strikes final week.
However their continued and widespread use suggests Ukraine can't at the moment destroy them at a fee faster than Russia can produce them.
"Within the long-term, one other chance is the usage of directed-energy weapons, similar to lasers, that are being developed and examined in numerous international locations as an economical countermeasure to aerial threats," Mattias Eken, a protection and safety professional at RAND Europe, instructed the Kyiv Unbiased.
Nonetheless, the widespread deployment of such weapons is way off, and within the meantime, increasingly Ukrainian cities and cities are prone to come inside vary of Russia's ever-evolving glide bombs.
