"Missiles alone are not enough now. The time of "superbombs" and "superbombs" is coming back"

Ex-Colonel of the General Staff Khodarenok: it is necessary to develop conventional weapons of special power

Modern military conflicts raise the question of the relevance of using heavy-duty aviation bombs and artillery of special power. Why these types of weapons were abandoned earlier, and now they are returning to their developments - in the author's material of the military observer "Gazeta.Ru" by Mikhail Khodarenka.

After the end of the Second World War, both in our country and in the West, until very recently, there was a reduction in large-caliber artillery weapons and powerful aviation bomb weapons.

By about the end of the 1970s, there was a certain consensus among military experts of the world that a global war - if such a war began - would be waged with nuclear missile weapons, and conventional weapons were necessary for local conflicts, which, as a rule, exclude the storming of large cities. Hence, there is no need for "superpower".

The experience of military operations in Libya, Syria and Ukraine has shown that the armies of the world are once again faced with the task of capturing cities.

A big city is the best battlefield for a weak and less technically advanced side of the conflict. In a megalopolis, it is possible not only to concentrate a grouping of tens of thousands of fighters, but also to hide it from the superior firepower of the enemy, as well as to supply it with material means for a long time and make up for losses in personnel, weapons and military equipment. Neither mountains, nor forests, nor jungles provide such an opportunity.

For example, in the USA they believe that taking cities with a population of up to 100 thousand people is not a big problem. It is not difficult to completely isolate them, establish fire control over the entire territory of the settlement. A city of this size does not contain large reserves of material and technical means and resources to support a significant contingent of defending troops for a long time.

A characteristic feature of the defense of cities was the massive use of existing ones and the construction of new underground shelters. Even specialized tunneling equipment was used for this. As a result, where the enemy was on the defensive for a long time (according to the experience of combat operations, for example, in Syria), real underground streets were created, along which cars moved.

It is important to note that the problem of storming cities in our time has become more complicated due to a decrease in the threshold of permissible collateral damage, which completely and categorically excludes even the theoretical use of tactical nuclear weapons. But missiles alone are not enough. This means that the time of the usual "superbombs" and "superbombs" returns.

"Dad of all Bombs" vs "Mom of all Bombs"

In the arsenal of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation there are powerful means of aviation destruction. These primarily 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. There is no evidence that such weapons of destruction were used during a special military operation in Ukraine.

This bomb has been constantly upgraded, but the fact is that it was adopted in 1943. They were used during the battles on the Kursk Bulge, during the liberation of Orel and during the assault on Konigsberg. According to some reports, Soviet troops also used them during the war in Afghanistan.

Especially in this regard, it should be noted that the only carrier of the FAB-5000M-54 in the VKS is the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber.

Currently, experimental design work is underway to create an aircraft bomb of a volumetric explosion, which has received the unofficial name "Aaviation 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" (MOAB, Mother Of All Bombs).

The first information about this domestic ammunition appeared on September 11, 2007. The product was dropped from the carrier aircraft and successfully hit the conditional target with a volumetric explosion. According to available official data, the total weight of the AVBPM product exceeds 7.5-8 tons. The explosive mass of this munition is 7,100 kg, the TNT equivalent is 44 tons.

MOAB, in turn, has a mass of 9.5 tons, of which 8.4 is accounted for by the Australian-made explosive H-6 - a mixture of rdx, TNT and aluminum powder - which is 1.35 times more powerful than TNT. The force of the explosion is 11 tons in TNT equivalent, the radius of destruction is about 140 meters, partial destruction occurs at a distance of up to 1.5 km from the epicenter.

Artillery is cheaper than aviation

When storming megacities and fortified areas, the currently available artillery calibers (152-mm, 155-mm and even 203-mm and 240-mm) of both the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other armies are clearly insufficient. Special power artillery (OHMS) is required here.

During the Second World War, German troops used 420-mm and 615-mm guns when conducting combat operations in conditions of dense urban development. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Red Army) used 305-mm howitzers during the assault on Konigsberg in April 1945. As a rule, the use of howitzers and guns of special power had a very significant effect.

A textbook example, which is studied at the Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, is the high efficiency of firing already in the first case of combat use on October 21-23, 1916, near Verdun, was demonstrated by the French 400-mm howitzer M 1915/16 developed by St. Chamond. Two hits into Fort Douamont occupied by German troops were enough for them to begin retreating along the entire sector of the front.

In the 1950s and 60s, the leadership of the USSR finally believed in the universality of nuclear missile weapons and considered the further development of barrel artillery of special power unpromising. Research and development work in this area has been discontinued.

At the same time, it is not at all an indisputable fact that currently all firing tasks can be solved by aviation and high-precision missile weapons.

In addition, there are many situations when the combat use of aviation is simply impractical or even impossible.

Against this background, the price of creation and the cost of operation, for example, howitzers of 356-mm caliber do not look at all like some exorbitant values. Of course, modern artillery of special power must have high mobility, adjustable ammunition, and be fully converted to digital guidance systems.

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.

Biography of the author:

Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for the newspaper.Ru", retired colonel.

Columnist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).

Mikhail Khodrenok