UMPK (bomb kit)

UMPK (УМПК; Унифицированный модуль планирования и коррекции, Unified gliding and correction module) is a guidance kit first developed by the Russian Bazalt Design Bureau for converting unguided Soviet bombs into precision-guided munitions. This kit is an aerial bomb glide range extension kit, similar to the American Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). The guidance system and gliding function of the UMPK kit can provide ordinary aerial bombs with longer-range and more accurate strike capabilities. They have been widely used by the Russian Air Force during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

History
A guided glide kit for Soviet/Russian bombs was first proposed by NPO Bazalt in 2003 as a cheap device that can be fitted to bombs to increase range and accuracy. Its prototype was first displayed at the "Aero India 2003" exhibition. The upgrade, back then called MPK, continued being proposed in 2008.

At the beginning of January 2023, Russian users on social networks shared a photo of the FAB-500 M-62 with an attached kit resembling a JDAM. The "artisan" quality of the kit may have indicated it was a prototype.

At the end of March 2023, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, reported that the Russian military began to use winged modified aerial bombs with a warhead weighing 500 kg more often. Russian planes drop them from a distance of tens of kilometers on targets in the front-line zone without entering the Ukrainian air defense range.

In April 2023, an Su-34 accidentally dropped a bomb on the Russian city of Belgorod. Some news outlets quoted Russian milblogger Fighterbomber that the bomb was an UMPK-upgraded one.

The UMPK was first publicly acknowledged by Russian MoD in May 2023.

According to a November 2023 investigation by the British NGO Conflict Armament Research, the new UMPK has, among other things, a more complex electronic system including SMART navigation controller and Kometa satellite navigation module.

Description
The UMPK aerial bomb glide kit is designed to convert traditional unguided bombs into guided bombs to provide greater strike accuracy. The maximum attack range depends on the altitude and trajectory of the aircraft before being dropped.

The current manufacturer of the module is not officially named. Perhaps there are several companies producing them, as well as several variants of the module itself.

A unit costs 2 million rubles, according to the Fighterbomber Telegram channel, which is equivalent to 24,460 USD and is cheap for such a weapon. During its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is unlikely to run out of bombs to which it can be fitted, as it has a very large inventory of unguided aerial bombs. The heavy use of civilian-grade electronics allows kits to be mass produced cheaply but also makes them unreliable compared to western equivalents resulting in bombs falling within Russia but safeguard systems mean detonations are rare. There are several variants of the kit:


 * FAB-250 – used at least as early as May 2023.
 * FAB-500 – the first bomb equipped with UMPK, and the most widely used.
 * FAB-1500 – used at least as early as September 2023.  The FAB-1500М54 guided bomb was displayed publicly when Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu visited the Tactical Missiles Corporation military-industrial complex in the Moscow region in January 2024.
 * FAB-3000 – On 20 June 2024, Russian milblogger FighterBomber published the alleged first usage of a FAB-3000 with UMPK kit in the village of Liptsy, Kharkiv region. The Kyiv Independent also reported on this claim, although they could not verify its veracity. More purported uses of the bomb in the same region took place in the next days with videos appeared online. The Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced the use of the bomb on 14 July 2024 by publishing a video which showed a Su-34 tactical bomber launching it.
 * ODAB-500 – footage in a video published by the Russian Defense Ministry on April 4, 2024, shows a Su-34 frontline bomber launching four ODAB-500 thermobaric bombs equipped with the UMPK guidance kit.
 * ODAB-1500 – used at least as early as February 2024.
 * RBK-500 – the cluster variant used at least as early as November 2023

Notable uses

 * Forbes magazine stated in August 2023 that the large-scale use of Russian guided bombs greatly hindered the Ukrainian counteroffensive on the Zaporizhzhia front.
 * FAB-1500 was claimed to have been used to strike the Antonovskiy Bridge in Kherson.