The first-ever combat deployment of the Russian Air Force's 3.3-ton glide bomb showcased both its immense power and inefficiency. In a series of consecutive strikes, a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bomber dropped a single FAB-3000 bomb with wings and satellite guidance on a multi-story building believed to be a Ukrainian troop staging base. The following day, another Su-34 dropped a FAB-3000 on a different large building suspected of housing Ukrainian forces.
The range of these massive bombs remains uncertain, as smaller glide bombs from Russia typically travel around 25 miles. The lack of aerodynamics and potentially limited range of the 3.3-ton bomb could be a drawback compared to smaller munitions.
Although both strikes missed their targets by a small margin, they had little impact. According to the popular Russian Telegram channel, Fighterbomber, the blast damage caused by a FAB-3000 extends over 200 yards, with lethal fragments propelled more than 1,200 yards. Missing a target by approximately 30 feet is considered an excellent outcome for a Su-34 armed with an FAB-3000.
However, Fighterbomber speculated that a Su-34 carrying smaller FAB-1500s, weighing 3,300 pounds each, would have caused even greater damage. While a Su-34 can only carry one FAB-3000, it has the capacity for three FAB-1500s. Although the latter option may be less impressive in terms of payload, it proves to be much more effective.
Because the explosive power of a bomb does not increase significantly with its mass, the FAB-3000 is only slightly more powerful than the FAB-1500, as explained by Fighterbomber.
By dropping three bombs instead of one, a Sukhoi aircraft has three opportunities to directly hit a target, compensating for any inaccuracies in a single bomb. Fighter bombers questioned why they don't use three FAB-1500s instead, as there seems to be no reasonable explanation for it.
However, there is an unreasonable explanation. A 6,600-pound bomb, despite its size and imposing nature, may serve more as a propaganda tool rather than an effective bomb. Fighter-bomber predicted that those involved in creating such a weapon would receive numerous awards, creating a wave of recognition.
The FAB-3000 is not the first aerial munition used for its propaganda value. In 2017, the U.S. Air Force dropped a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb weighing 11 tons on Islamic State militants in Afghanistan. This excessive use of force was intentional, as the Pentagon proudly shared videos of the blast as a warning to surviving militants.
Reportedly, the Russian Air Force did not produce a large number of FAB-3000s. At the current rate of deployment, they may soon be depleted, and the Air Force will resort to using the more efficient 3,300-pound glide bombs.
However, even these glide bombs may soon lose their significance. In an attempt to counter the impact of numerous Russian glide bombs each month, Ukrainian forces have started deploying advanced radio jammers that can disrupt the signals between the bombs and the guiding satellites.
Fighterbomber observed that electronic warfare is prevailing, causing a decrease in accuracy. The era of cheap satellite-guided glide bombs is coming to an end.
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