A military expert spoke about the capabilities of Russian aviation during the storming of Azovstal
The representative of the People's militia of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, announced the beginning of the assault on the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol, where the Azov detachment* and the AFU units occupy positions. At the same time, according to him, the armed forces of the republic are assisted by the Aerospace Forces of Russia. Military observer of the Newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok was figuring out what Russian aviation could use against Azov*.
"Azovstal Metallurgical Plant is one of the largest metallurgical plants in the post-Soviet space. Before the start of the special military operation, the plant produced cast iron, long and shaped rolled products, mainline railway rails and much more.
The plant was the largest industrial center of the region. The company is located in the southern part of Mariupol on the shore of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. The area of "Azovstal" is 11 square kilometers. The enterprise consists of 41 workshops and 80 other large structures.
A separate detachment "Azov"*, units and units of the Armed forces of Ukraine turned the steel mill into a powerful fortified area. Long-term firing points are equipped on the territory of the enterprise, all approaches to the plant are covered with mine-explosive structures.
Among other things, under the "Azovstal" there are underground structures, tunnels and communication passages that go underground to a depth of up to six floors. The formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine use them to transfer reinforcements and materiel from one area of the enterprise to another.
To destroy such fortifications during the storming of Azovstal, the VKS can use high-power bombs that are in the arsenal of Russian combat aviation.
The accuracy of hitting this munition is up to 4 m, and the carriers are Su-24M, Su-34, Su-35 aircraft.
The next aviation weapon that can be used to storm Azovstal is an aviation bomb weighing three tons of the FAB-3000M-54 type. The aerial bomb contains 1,387 kg of TNT.
The FAB-5000M-54 is designed to destroy military-industrial structures and factory buildings when bombing from heights up to 16,000 m at an aircraft flight speed of up to 1200 km/h. The main targets for large-caliber bombs are also particularly strong ground and underground facilities.
During the tests, it was found that the explosion of the FAB-3000M-54 ensures the complete destruction of capital structures with a diameter of about 33.5 m.
In the arsenal of the Aerospace Forces there are also more powerful means of aviation destruction. These include the FAB-5000M-54 free-falling high-explosive bomb weighing five tons. The mass of the warhead of this munition reaches 4200 kg, and the mass of the explosive substance is 2210.6 kg.
The only carrier of the FAB-3000M-54 and FAB-5000M-54 is the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber.
Russian aviators also have in stock an aviation bomb of a volumetric explosion, which has received an unofficial name - an aviation vacuum bomb of increased power, AVBPM. Another unofficial name for this munition is "The Pope of all Bombs". It arose by analogy with the name of the US Air Force GBU-43 / B "Mother Of All Bombs" (Mother Of All Bombs). According to some media, it is considered the most powerful non-nuclear ammunition in the world.
The real designation of this Russian munition is currently unknown, as neither the developer nor the manufacturer nor the number of units produced are unknown.
The first information about the "Pope of all Bombs" appeared on September 11, 2007. The product was dropped from the carrier aircraft and successfully hit the conditional target with a volumetric explosion. The corresponding story was shown on the First Channel of Russian television.
Inside the main part of the case there is a liquid explosive responsible for a volumetric explosion. The total mass of the charge is 7.1 tons. According to published information, such a charge produces an explosion with a power equivalent to 44 tons of TNT. Guaranteed defeat of targets occurs within a radius of 300 m. At distances up to 1-1.5 km, the shock wave retains the possibility of damaging buildings and destroying manpower. There is no information about any AVBPM guidance systems at the moment.
* - The Azov Detachment is a neo-Nazi extremist organization, banned in Russia
Mikhail Khodarenok
