Ukraine relies on this new superweapon in aerial combat

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Its use has been speculated for a long time. Now it’s official: “We now have bombs called JDAM,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat announced Friday.

What’s behind the four letters JDAM? The abbreviation stands for Joint Direct Attack Munition. This is a retrofit kit for aerial bombs. The modules turn conventional munitions into precision-guided missiles. The result: the accuracy increases enormously.

Dom gets smart

The JDAM bombs were first used on the battlefield during the Kosovo War. The United States, which supplied this technology to Ukraine, managed to use the conversion kit to convert simple free-fall bombs into precision-guided weapons, Der Spiegel reports.

Because conventional bombs are also called “dumb bombs”, they are called “smart bombs” after conversion. An applied cuff is responsible for controlling the bombs. An active tail unit then takes care of the navigation: it adjusts the course of the bomb after it has been dropped. The mechanism is based on a combination of GPS satellite data and inertial navigation.

According to US data, the bombs hit the target within a radius of 13 meters in half of the cases. The Luftwaffe can drop bombs weighing up to 900 kilograms. Conventional JDAMs had a range of 17 miles. Newer models reach destinations up to 80 kilometers away. It is unclear which models and how many units Ukraine received. However, apparently these are longer range JDAMs.

Cheap alternative

The manufacturer Boeing is said to have completed more than half a million kits to date. Compared to alternatives such as cruise missiles, the JDAM kits are cheap: the average kit costs $24,000.

However, Ukraine had to overcome a challenge: Using the JDAM weapons, the warplane’s onboard computer calculates the bomb’s ideal glide path. However, for this to work with the MiG jets or the Soviet-era Sukhoi fighters, technical modifications are needed.

Ukraine may have benefited from Poland’s experience: after joining NATO, the neighboring country converted its Russian MiG-29 jets to allow the planes to use Western ammunition.

The problems with the conversion seem to have been solved. Ukraine is satisfied with its new superweapon. Air Force spokesman Ihnat “We would like to have more of these bombs to be successful at the front.”

Source: Blick