Russia has begun upgrading its aerial bombs with new 12-channel Kometa CRPA systems, reportedly in an effort to improve resistance to Ukrainian electronic warfare.

This was reported by the Telegram channel “Colonel GSh.”

According to the Telegram channel’s authors, the Kometa antennas are now being installed on Russia’s UMPK (Universal Gliding and Correction Module) kits, which convert unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions.

The upgrade is believed to enhance satellite navigation resilience by increasing the number of navigation channels.

Current Russian CRPA systems reportedly support up to 16 channels.

The latest UMPK modules with 12-channel Kometa antennas have been observed with production markings dated April 2025.

“The production date is 04.25 #685, and the numbering of these new modules appears to have restarted from zero,” the channel noted. Similar 12-channel Comet antennas have previously been identified on Shahed-136 (Geran-2) loitering munitions.

The Kometa system is based on CRPA technology, which protects satellite navigation receivers from spoofing and jamming by filtering out false or interfering signals.

These antennas enable precision-guided weapons to maintain course even in contested electromagnetic environments.

The remains of the UMPK from which the 12-element CRPA antenna Kometa was removed. April, 2025. Photo credits: “Colonel GSh” Telegram channel

The upgrade comes amid reports that Ukrainian electronic warfare systems, such as the domestically developed Lima, have been effective in degrading the accuracy of Russian air-dropped munitions.

According to The Economist, Lima employs a hybrid approach—combining jamming, spoofing, and cyber interference—to disrupt satellite navigation.

Unlike conventional EW systems that generate broad-spectrum noise, Lima uses targeted digital suppression to attack the navigation receiver directly, reducing the effectiveness of satellite-guided munitions.

Russia’s UMPK kits rely on a dual guidance system: inertial navigation, which uses pre-programmed coordinates, and satellite-based correction throughout most of the flight. If the satellite link is lost, the bomb can still continue toward the target, but accuracy declines over time due to inertial drift.

In the event of a loss of communication, the bomb continues to fly towards the target, focusing on the inertial guidance system, which, depending on the flight time of the bomb, gives increasingly large deviations.

A Chinese-manufactured 16-element CRPA antenna was found in January 2025 in a downed Russian Shahed-136 drone.