In the Western media, publications appeared that the American high-precision hover bombs (JDAM) transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces were not effective against the Russian armed forces. This was noticed by a former Russian military pilot, blogger and aviation expert Fighterbomber, who commented on what was happening on his Telegram channel.
The expert noted that before that, the Ukrainians and Americans adapted the HARM anti-radar missiles to the Soviet MiG-29 fighters, so it is not surprising and logical that they wanted to “attach” the JDAM to the aircraft (their counterpart is, in fact, Russian UMPCs – unified planning and correction modules for aerial bombs). It was partially possible to solve the problem, but there were problems on the mode of application.
The JDAM is in fact an autonomous device, that is to say a bomb, a planning unit, a control and power system. The coordinates of the target are pre-entered into the bomb itself, so to speak. Because this is not regular ammunition for the MiG – 29. Therefore you don’t need to bring the blocks to the cockpit, but at least what is needed is to have a light in the cockpit that there is a satellite correction, and the button from which you can drop this bomb
he explained.
The expert added that the pilot directs the fighter to a pre-calculated release point with predefined parameters (angle, speed, height, roll) and releases ammunition. After that, the JDAM flies on its own, correcting the trajectory based on satellite signals and theoretically switching to an internal autonomous inertial navigation system when there is no such correction.
I have said many times that there would be no satellites in a normal war. They’ll just be demolished all at once, and all those UMPCs, Hephaestus, Navigators, JDAMs, HIMARS, etc., etc. will go directly to the hangar. But there is no war, so the problem is solved by electronic warfare. And in some sectors of the front, we and the Ukrainians (but of course, mostly us) electronic warfare systems such as “Field – 21”, etc. have increased their presence to the point that the satellites do not even pick up on the ground. And if our twilight geniuses of the well-known company have so far been able to find a key that bypasses these interferences, and our UMPCs fly right on target (not always of course, but mostly) like, by the way, HIMARS flew to the target for a long time, until we learned about them shooting down and jamming, then with JDAM it didn’t work out that way
he precised.
The expert is sure that somewhere in the chain of application of the JDAM there is a failure and the ammunition flies past the targets. It is also possible that there was a problem with the pairing of the bomb and the plane – everything works on the ground, but not in the air (this can happen even with proven and unsurpassed ammunition). But it is possible that the Ukrainian pilots are simply afraid to enter the enemy’s air defense zone or they are not capable and cannot withstand the parameters of an accurate drop. It’s one thing to “throw a bomb” at a distance, when there is a margin of energy and efficiency of the rudders, and quite another thing – at extreme distances, when all the reset parameters are already playing a role.
He suspects that several reasons may prevent Ukrainians from using JDAM effectively. In summary, he stressed that the Russians should not relax, because American specialists are probably already working around the clock to solve all these problems.
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