UMPK
FAB-500 M-62 with an UMPK kit, suspended under a Su-34 bomber
Type	Glide bomb
Place of origin	Russian Federation
Service history
In service	2023-present
Used by	Russian Armed Forces
Wars	Russian invasion of Ukraine

UMPK ( Russian: УМПК; Унифицированный модуль планирования и коррекции; Unified gliding and correction module) is a guidance kit first developed by the Russian Bazalt Design Bureau for converting unguided Soviet bombs into precision-guided munitions. This kit is an aerial bomb glide range extension kit, similar to JDAM. The guidance system and gliding function of the UMPK kit can provide ordinary aerial bombs with longer-range and more accurate strike capabilities. They have been widely used by the Russian Air Force during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

History

Guided glide kit for Soviet/Russian bombs was first proposed by NPO Bazalt in 2003 as a cheap device that can be retrofitted to already existing stocks to increase range and accuracy of dumb bombs. Its prototype was first displayed at the "Aero India 2003" exibition. ^[1] The upgrade, back then called MPK, continued being proposed in 2008. ^[2]

At the beginning of January 2023, Russian users on social networks shared a photo of the FAB-500 M-62 with an attached kit resembling a JDAM. The "artisan" quality of the kit may have indicated it was a prototype. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

At the end of March 2023, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, reported that the Russian military began to use winged modified aerial bombs with a warhead weighing 500 kg more often. Russian planes drop them from a distance of tens of kilometers on targets in the front-line zone without entering the Ukrainian air defense range. ^[6]

In April 2023, an Su-34 accidentally dropped a bomb on the Russian city of Belgorod. Some news outlets quoted Russian milblogger Fighterbomber that the bomb was an UMPK-upgraded one. ^[7]

The UMPK was first publicly acknowledged by Russian MOD in May 2023. ^{[8] [9]}

According to a November 2023 investigation by the British NGO Conflict Armament Research, the new UMPK has, among other things, a more complex electronic system including SMART navigation controller and Kometa satellite navigation module. ^{[10] [11]}

Description

The UMPK aerial bomb glide kit is designed to convert traditional unguided bombs into guided bombs to provide greater strike accuracy. The maximum attack range depends on the altitude and trajectory of the aircraft before being dropped. ^[12]

The current manufacturer of the module is not officially named. Perhaps there are several companies producing them, as well as several variants of the module itself. ^[9]

The bomb is equipped with Kometa-M system, which provides unobstructed connection to the bomb even in the presence of EW systems. ^[13]

A unit costs 2 million rubles, according to the Fighterbomber Telegram channel, ^[14] which is equivalent to US$24,460 ^[15] and is cheap for such a weapon. ^{[14] [15]} During its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is unlikely to run out of bombs to which it can be fitted, as it has a very large inventory of unguided aerial bombs. ^[15]

There are several variants of the kit:

• FAB-250 – used at least as early as May 2023 ^[16]
• FAB-500 – the first bomb equipped with UMPK, and the most widely used
• FAB-1500 – used at least as early as September 2023. ^{[17] [18] [19]} The FAB-1500 М54 guided bomb was displayed publicly when Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu visited the Tactical Missile Corporation military-industrial complex in the Moscow region in January 2024. ^[20]
• ODAB-500 – footage in a video published by the Russian Defense Ministry on April 4, 2024, shows a Su-34 frontline bomber launching four ODAB-500 thermobaric bombs equipped with the UMPK guidance kit ^[21]
• ODAB-1500 – used at least as early as February 2024 ^[22]

Notable uses

• Forbes magazine stated in August 2023 that the large-scale use of Russian guided bombs greatly hindered the Ukrainian counteroffensive on the Zaporozhye front. ^[23]

• FAB-1500 was used to strike Antonovsky bridge in Kherson. ^[17]

• IRIS-T air defense system radar was targeted by UMPK roughly 25 km from the frontline. ^[24]

See also

• GBU-39

References