Aviation of the Russian invasion forces can start using glider bombs weighing one and a half tons.

So far, the Ukrainian Defense Forces do not have the ability to shoot down the aircraft that launch such munitions and they pose a great threat.

Yurii Ihnat, spokesman of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, made a corresponding statement.

On the air of the telethon, he noted that the Russian Minister of Defense has recently visited the enterprise where aviation munitions were manufactured, including 1.5-ton bombs.

Ihnat assumes that, with a high probability, the Russians will equip these bombs with wings and a control and correction unit, as is currently the case with 500-kilogram aerial bombs.

Due to satellite guidance, such high-precision aerial bombs are able to fly dozens of kilometers to their target.

“One and a half ton bombs are three times more powerful. I emphasize once again that the necessary means that can resist them are the Patriot, SAMP/T systems from the ground. And the best thing is modern F-16 fighter aircraft or other “4+” generations, which are able to resist Russian aircraft on long-range approaches,” Ihnat says.

The spokesman of the Air Force notes that Ukraine does not yet have the means to shoot down the aircraft carrying aerial bombs, so such weapons constitute a certain threat.

“The enemy uses these bombs remotely. So far, with impunity. It should be understood that such bombs strike from a distance of 50 plus kilometers and beyond the line of combat or the state border. Therefore, we have nothing to reach the aircraft that launches them yet,” Yurii Ihnat emphasized.

Reports of the Russians’ use of aerial bombs equipped with a guidance kit on the front began to appear in March of this year.

The Russian invaders began to equip conventional free-falling bombs with a guidance kit, as well as complex flight control surfaces that unfold when the bomb is dropped from the plane. The gliding and adjustment module is equipped with a satellite navigation system and/or an inertial guidance system that adjusts the flight path.

This turns an ordinary unguided aerial bomb into a high-precision glide munition. Previously, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that the enemy used 10-15 to 20 glide bombs per day on the contact line and in the front-line zone. Strikes are also carried out from the territory of the Russian Federation on the border regions of Ukraine. For this the Russians use tactical aircraft: mainly Su-30 and Su-35 fighters or Su-34 fighter-bombers without entering the Ukrainian air defense striking distance.