Russian bombs thwarted by Ukrainian tech: The Lima effect
Russian KAB bombs are becoming increasingly ineffective thanks to Lima jammers. We explain how they work.
According to the portal Militarnyj, Ukrainian specialists have achieved a breakthrough in electronic warfare, resulting in a significant decrease in the accuracy of deadly Russian guided bombs collectively known as KAB.
KAB bombs, which are unguided FAB bombs equipped with UMPK modules, are being heavily used in attacks on Ukraine. They are dropped from a high altitude, allowing them to cover considerable distances. However, their quality is low, which leads to unpredictable incidents, such as the bomb that nearly hit a dam near the village of Popovka.
Lima jammers
The Lima system is not a traditional jammer. As reported by the Ukrainians, it uses a multi-band attack method based on digital signal suppression, disrupting communications, spoofing, and cyber-attacking navigation receivers used by the Russians.
As a result, they can significantly reduce the accuracy of KAB bombs by 50-100 metres in the case of jamming lasting 100 seconds. It's worth noting that glide bombs can travel at speeds over Mach 1, which means more than 340 metres per second. For 100 seconds, the jammers must have a range of about 30 kilometres.
Jammers do not provide complete defence
A reduction in precision of, say, 50 metres is effective against bombs weighing 250 or 500 kilograms, but not against heavier ones such as the FAB-1500 and FAB-3000, which weigh 1,500 kilograms and 3,000 kilograms respectively.
These bombs contain approximately 750 kilograms and 1,500 kilograms of TNT, and the range of the blast wave is measured in hundreds of metres. In their case, a reduction in precision of 50-100 metres does not make a significant difference. Their downside, however, is that the Su-34 can carry a maximum of three such weapons, reducing its ability to attack multiple targets in one sortie compared to lighter bombs.
