Russian bomb mishap in Zaporizhzhia highlights missile reliability issues
The Ukrainian State Emergency Service recently neutralized an unexploded Russian KAB-500 aerial bomb that fell in the Zaporizhzhia region. The services had to act on-site due to a damaged detonator that made transporting the ammunition to a safe location impossible.
The Russian Federation has long struggled with the unreliability of its own missiles. As a result, in recent months, there have been numerous reports of missiles of various types accidentally dropped on Russian territory. There is also no shortage of incidents where the ammunition reaches its intended target but does not explode – as was the case with some of the most modern missiles currently in the Russian arsenal, the Kh-47 Kinzhal.
The problems of the Russian Federation continue, as evidenced by the discovery in recent days of an unexploded 500 kg aerial bomb KAB-500 near the town of Polohy in the Zaporizhzhia region. According to Ukrainian services, the ammunition posed a severe threat due to a modified detonator. This meant that transporting the bomb to a safe place for sappers to handle it was impossible.
Due to the risks posed by moving the missile, sappers decided to neutralize the KAB-500 on site. They carried out a controlled detonation near the town, exercising caution.
KAB-500 bombs
The unexploded bomb found in the Zaporizhzhia region is one of the more commonly used bombs by the Russians during the conflict in Ukraine. This is primarily because it belongs to the "fire and forget" type of missiles and is highly effective, thanks to its weight exceeding 500 kg. The KAB-500 is based on the FAB-500 and has eight different versions.
The most popular 500 kg KAB variants are the KAB-500L and the KAB-500Kr. The first one owes its name to the presence of a laser guidance system (denoted by L). It has a 27N warhead based on Contact Image Sensor (CIS) technology with a correlational data processing system.
The Russians designed it as a counterpart to the American Paveway system. It weighs over 520 kg, and the warhead contains 450 kg of explosive material. The semi-active laser head and control surfaces, which correct the flight, are responsible for hitting targets with an accuracy of up to 7 metres in the case of the KAB-500L.
A popular version of the 500 kg KAB in the Russian Federation is also the KAB-500Kr, which weighs 560 kg and has an explosive charge of 380 kg. Compared to the laser version, which has a range of 9 km, the KAB-500Kr reaches a distance of up to 17 km. It uses a high-sensitivity television head for guidance and has control surfaces for flight correction.
