Ukraine is about to obtain new American-guided bombs, generally known as JSOW. These bombs permit for putting targets positioned tons of of kilometers away from the drop level. Nonetheless, their efficient vary closely depends upon the altitude from which they’re launched, rendering the Ukrainian F-16s carrying them susceptible to Russian air protection methods.
In at the moment’s warfare, delivering exact strikes towards enemy personnel, tools, and varied communication strains usually turns into a game-changer. Main nations’ navy industries frequently work on introducing new precision weapons and upgrading present ones. A first-rate instance of such a weapon is the American JSOW planning bomb.
At first of September, Washington introduced plans to offer Ukraine with one other navy help package deal value about $250 million. By September 26, a brand new help package deal valued at $375 million was revealed. This consists of weapons like cluster bombs, HIMARS, artillery ammunition, and Javelin missiles. Whereas US President Joe Biden talked about that the beforehand introduced JASSM long-range cruise missiles should not a part of this package deal, Ukraine will obtain AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon [JSOW] homing bombs to reinforce Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities.
The JSOW, or Joint Standoff Weapon, is an adaptable aerial bomb designed to change its flight path, making it able to hitting each stationary and shifting targets. Raytheon started creating the AGM-154 in 1992 in america, with the primary take a look at launches going down three years later. It noticed its preliminary fight use in December 1998 throughout Operation Desert Fox in Iraq. At present, there are six formally acknowledged modifications of those bombs.
The AGM-154A, AGM-154B, and AGM-154C variants, armed with cluster munitions, are supposed to neutralize calmly protected targets and clusters of armored automobiles. The AGM-154A1 model is full of the highly effective PBXN-10 high-explosive for a extra devastating influence.
The JSOW-ER variant encompasses a turbojet engine, extending its flight vary and broadening its strike functionality. The JSOW Block III, enhanced with two-way communication methods, affords improved strike accuracy, making it notably efficient in city environments the place precision is essential.
The JSOW bomb is designed to function on a fire-and-forget foundation, that means it requires no further steerage as soon as launched. It employs a built-in inertial GPS navigation system and a thermal imaging infrared head, enabling it to independently purchase its goal. These bombs incorporate applied sciences that make them proof against digital warfare [EW].
Consultants recommend that the flight vary of the JSOW varies between 22 and 130 kilometers, with the essential model weighing round 455 kilograms and attaining a spread of 130 kilometers.
Fitted with a turbojet engine, the JSOW-ER variants can cowl considerably longer distances—as much as 450-500 kilometers. This vary exceeds that of the Storm Shadow / SCALP EG cruise missiles at the moment utilized by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The JSOW bomb payload can embody high-explosive, thermobaric, and cluster munitions.
These glide bombs may be launched from F-16 plane, which have been delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces. This context underscores President Joe Biden’s resolution to develop the coaching program for Ukrainian pilots on international plane. Nonetheless, questions stay: How efficient will these new munitions be for the Ukrainian navy? And what countermeasures may very well be deployed towards them?
As navy skilled Dmitry Drozdenko identified, “Each weapon creates an issue, completely everybody.” The JSOW is certainly a strong munition, able to focusing on a spread of threats, from tools concentrations to air protection methods. Nonetheless, it additionally comes with its personal set of drawbacks.
The upper the altitude, the additional the bomb can journey. However for Ukrainian F-16 pilots, flying larger means being simply detected by Russian radars and uncovered to the long-range S-400 and S-500 anti-aircraft missile methods. The formidable capabilities of Russian air protection make high-altitude flights almost unattainable for Ukrainian plane.
Because of this, Ukrainian pilots are compelled to deploy these glide bombs from decrease altitudes or in a tilted mode, drastically lowering their vary. As an example, JDAM-ER aerial bombs—transferred to Kyiv in February 2023—might solely be deployed as much as 40 kilometers. The JSOW is prone to face comparable limitations.
In keeping with a number of consultants, the U.S. supply of JSOW glide bombs to Ukraine is primarily a take a look at of those new weapons in fight situations and one other alternative to judge Russian air protection capabilities. They don’t seem to be anticipated to considerably have an effect on the general course of navy operations.
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