![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
04-01-2025, 09:35 PM
The above recent video montage capturing imagery from cameras attached to the tough, subsonic attack jets depicts Soviet-vintage planes lobbing French-made Hammer glide bombs at Russian targets, video of single-seat Su-25s in action with their 550-pound winged bombs comes just weeks after a similar video appeared online depicting Ukrainian air force supersonic Sukhoi Su-27s tossing American-made 250-pound glide bombs, both cases, tactics display are similar warplanes fly low & fast toward the front line, hugging terrain to avoid detection by Russian air defense batteries. At last moment, b4 releasing their bombs, the planes climb.
The higher angle extra altitude extend—by miles—the range of the precision-guided munitions. A Hammer can travel farther than 40 miles under optimal launch conditions, but conditions over Ukraine are rarely optimal. It’s not for no reason that Ukrainian jets losses in the air are lower now than they were early in the year. The Ukrainian air force went to war with 43 flyable Su-25s, got an extra 18 airframes from Macedonia and Bulgaria and lost at least 20 of the jets in action, leaving at most 41 in service. Notably, just 3 or 4 of the losses occurred last year. It should come as no surprise that, in 2024, Ukrainian Su-25 apparently completed a major overhaul of tactics, ending the practice of close rocket attacks in favor of standoff bombing with Hammers glide bombs.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe while in air, they’re safer now than they were be4 wide adoption of glide munitions transformed, the aging Su-25s into precision bombers, glide bombs work so well with Ukrainian air force, is arming all of its older warplanes: Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters and Sukhoi Su-24 bombers in addition to Su-25s & Su-27s. Airforce’s newer, F-16s-made jets— & Dassault Mirage 2000s—should also be compatible with American and French glide bombs. Anticipating greater demand for the bombs, and also hedging against the possibility that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reduces or halts American aid to Ukraine, the Ukrainians have developed a glide bomb of their own. That bomb was undergoing testing on an Su-24 as recently as September.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/20...n-bombers/
The higher angle extra altitude extend—by miles—the range of the precision-guided munitions. A Hammer can travel farther than 40 miles under optimal launch conditions, but conditions over Ukraine are rarely optimal. It’s not for no reason that Ukrainian jets losses in the air are lower now than they were early in the year. The Ukrainian air force went to war with 43 flyable Su-25s, got an extra 18 airframes from Macedonia and Bulgaria and lost at least 20 of the jets in action, leaving at most 41 in service. Notably, just 3 or 4 of the losses occurred last year. It should come as no surprise that, in 2024, Ukrainian Su-25 apparently completed a major overhaul of tactics, ending the practice of close rocket attacks in favor of standoff bombing with Hammers glide bombs.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe while in air, they’re safer now than they were be4 wide adoption of glide munitions transformed, the aging Su-25s into precision bombers, glide bombs work so well with Ukrainian air force, is arming all of its older warplanes: Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters and Sukhoi Su-24 bombers in addition to Su-25s & Su-27s. Airforce’s newer, F-16s-made jets— & Dassault Mirage 2000s—should also be compatible with American and French glide bombs. Anticipating greater demand for the bombs, and also hedging against the possibility that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reduces or halts American aid to Ukraine, the Ukrainians have developed a glide bomb of their own. That bomb was undergoing testing on an Su-24 as recently as September.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/20...n-bombers/
