Horrifying video footage shows Russia unleashing “hell” in Ukraine with its new gliding ‘Frankenstein’ bomb that has been nicknamed “the building destroyer”.
The deadly weapon, which has had a devastating impact wherever it has been deployed, takes Soviet-era blunt force and grafts modern technology to it. Russia has been using big-but-dumb FAB bombs since 1946 – but now it has added ‘smart’ wings to them.
This major addition allows these devastating bombs to glide toward their target once they have been dropped from a fighter jet.
Ukrainian armed forces say the “building destroyer” has unleashed “hell” whenever it has been used against them. A soldier from the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade, based in the Donetsk region, told CNN: “The damage done by it is very serious.
“If you survive, you are guaranteed to have a contusion. It puts a lot of pressure on soldiers’ morale.”
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Packed with 675kg, they have a destruction radius of 200 metres – and have been nicknamed the “building destroyer” by Russian war bloggers.
Worryingly, modifying these old bombs is relatively cheap. This means Russia is able to produce the “building destroyer” in large quantities.
Certainly, it can create them in much larger quantities than Ukraine can produce surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) – which are the only effective defence against them.
Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think tank, said: “Russia certainly has the capacity to produce more glide bomb kits for older FAB series bombs than Ukraine has to resupply its surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems’ missile ammunition – so shooting them down directly isn’t a sustainable strategy.”
The Kremlin has intimated that it is working round the clock to produce more of these bombs. Back in January, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited a manufacturing plant suspected of building the gliding FABs.
The factory’s director claimed they had moved to 24/7 working and productivity had increased by 40.
Two months earlier in November, the head of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, warned that there were “signs of preparation for the mass deployment of 1,500 kg FABs”.
And, just days ago, a Ukrainian military official confirmed that Russian forces are conducting strikes in Ukraine with improved glide bombs.
Captain Dmytro Lykhovyi said that Russian forces struck Myrnohrad, Donetsk Oblast, with three of the Frankenstien glid bombs on said on March 10, reported the Institute of the Study of War.
