Glide Bombs Take Center Stage in Ukraine, Offer Lessons for India's Growing Arsenal

The war in Ukraine has underscored the growing significance of glide bombs in modern warfare, highlighting their cost-effectiveness and destructive capabilities. While the conflict rages thousands of kilometers away, it offers valuable insights for India, a nation that has been actively developing and deploying its own arsenal of these weapons.

Glide bombs are unpowered precision-guided munitions that are released from an aircraft, then glide to their target. They offer several advantages over traditional bombs, including increased range, accuracy, and reduced risk to the launching aircraft. In the Ukraine conflict, Russia's extensive use of glide bombs has demonstrated their effectiveness in targeting enemy infrastructure and military positions.

India's Indigenous Glide Bomb Arsenal​

India has made significant strides in developing its own glide bomb capabilities, boasting two main indigenous options:

• DRDO SAAW (Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon): Designed to neutralize airfields and fortified structures, the SAAW boasts a range of 100 km, making it a potent weapon for striking enemy infrastructure.
• Gaurav and Gautam Series: These glide bombs offer varying payloads and ranges, with Gaurav carrying a 1,000 kg payload over 100 km and Gautam carrying a lighter 550 kg payload over a shorter range of 30 km. Notably, a range extension kit is under development for Gautam, which currently relies on steerable fins for guidance.

Additional Glide Bomb Capabilities​

In addition to its indigenous options, India utilizes glide bombs of foreign origin, including:

• Spice Series: These Israeli-made glide bombs were notably deployed during the Balakot airstrike and are known for their precision and accuracy.
• Hammer Bombs: These French glide bombs offer further versatility to India's arsenal.

Lessons from Ukraine​

Russia's extensive use of glide bombs in Ukraine has highlighted their strategic advantages:

• Standoff Capability: Glide bombs allow aircraft to launch attacks from a safe distance, minimizing their exposure to enemy air defenses.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to more sophisticated missiles, glide bombs are relatively affordable, allowing for sustained offensives even in prolonged conflicts.

As India continues to enhance its military capabilities, the lessons from Ukraine underscore the importance of investing in glide bomb technology. These weapons offer a cost-effective and potent means of projecting air power while minimizing risk to pilots and aircraft.

The development of indigenous capabilities, such as the SAAW and the Gaurav-Gautam series, demonstrates India's commitment to self-reliance in these defence technology.

 

[sanket]

On other hand western especially US made Glide Bomb Failed to make any impact in war which was over hyped . wetsern weapons are far superior than Russia , secondly they even imported some P0rkistan Ammo Range of the Gaurav & Gautham should b Increase to over 150KM , In article Gautham Range is mentioned 550kM i hope it not that much.

 

[NSR]

India has some glide bombs from Textron, in addition, India has various conversion projects which converts dumb bombs into precision glide bombs of various ranges.
India has developed all of those technologies on its own.

Good idea to make a thorough analysis of Ukraine war for lessons learned and apply to all of our armament's programs.
India already has complete technology for these glide bombs of its own.

 

[Ranjeet Singh]

Lessons from Ukraine war are make UCAVs,Kamikaze drones, Sea baby Sea drones, and mutilayerd anti missile defenc shield, mastery in satellite data based net centeric warfare and drone jammer device on Tanks and IFVs !

 

[Primary Goal]

Hammer is not a glide bomb. It is rocket powered PGM.

 

[Aayush Pratap]

The biggest lesson would be to massively up our EW game. The Russians are rendering some top of the shelf weapons useless solely via this capability.

 

[The Presence]

The biggest lesson would be to massively up our EW game. The Russians are rendering some top of the shelf weapons useless solely via this capability.

It's already up with Himraj and Himshakti.

 

[Sridhar]

It's already up with Himraj and Himshakti.

Not adequate. Land based EW and Aircrafts with EW need to be in inducted in large numbers for conducting SEAD operations with ease.

 

[The Presence]

Not adequate. Land based EW and Aircrafts with EW need to be in inducted in large numbers for conducting SEAD operations with ease.

Yes we lack escort jamming capability.

 

[Aayush Pratap]

It's already up with Himraj and Himshakti.

They don't compare to Russian EW systems. Patriotism is good, responsible and knowledgeable patriotism is better.

 

[The Presence]

They don't compare to Russian EW systems. Patriotism is good, responsible and knowledgeable patriotism is better.

Surprising you come to such a conclusion after the abysmal performance of the majority of Russian hardware in this war.
Maybe watch the video of Defence Decode on Indian EW and then you will realise.

 

[Aayush Pratap]

Surprising you come to such a conclusion after the abysmal performance of the majority of Russian hardware in this war.
Maybe watch the video of Defence Decode on Indian EW and then you will realise.

Abysmal performance? What are you smoking? The Russians are jamming Excalibur, HIMAR shells with reckless abandon. Spoofing drones and throwing weapons like Storm Shadow etc off path with ease. Those are top notch weapon systems. We don't even have anything to take on the drones that have been dropping drugs, guns etc like nobody's business that regularly cross over from Bhikaaristan. BSF men taking pot shots at those drones to bring them down is not a pretty sight.

 

[The Presence]

Abysmal performance? What are you smoking? The Russians are jamming Excalibur, HIMAR shells with reckless abandon. Spoofing drones and throwing weapons like Storm Shadow etc off path with ease. Those are top notch weapon systems. We don't even have anything to take on the drones that have been dropping drugs, guns etc like nobody's business that regularly cross over from Bhikaaristan. BSF men taking pot shots at those drones to bring them down is not a pretty sight.

Videos are showing S-400s getting destroyed by ATACMs and Storm Shadows while they are active and shooting fanatically to intercept.
Now, you could jam Excalibur or even ATACMs, but jamming Storm Shadows is almost impossible because it has terrain matching pre-fed through satellite imagery, in addition to GPS and INS.
Activating our top-notch EW system for such cheap quadcopters is a wastage of money. It doesn't make any sense.