Russia continues to lead the military innovation and dominate the battlefield. In its latest military adaptation, Russia has introduced a cost-effective rocket engine to assist the glide bombs in reaching targets much farther with precision.
Introduction
For instance, during the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025, the long-range air-to-air engagement capabilities of the Pakistan Air Force resulted in embarrassing and damaging results for the French-built aircraft of the Indian Air Force. Had India acquired, fielded, and deployed the Russian-made Su-57 fifth-generation fighter aircraft armed with Vympel R-37M air-to-air missiles, the air battle results would have been surely different. It is to be remembered here that a Russian Air Force Su-30 fighter aircraft armed with the R-37M air-to-air missile shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter aircraft in October 2022 from an estimated distance of 130 kilometres. This seemingly tactical incident has the potential of altering the entire course of military operations, and Russia successfully demonstrated this capability.
Likewise, to enhance its air-to-surface strike capabilities, the Russian Air Force adapted and turned its relatively old dumb bombs into highly precise air-launched weapons. In my previous article, I highlighted the battlefield adaptation of Russian military planners, which decided to turn the FAB-Series heavy dumb bombs into highly precise and smart weapons known as glide bombs by installing the Universally Modular Gliding and Correction Kit (UMPK) on them. The UMPK kit is guided using Russia’s GLONASS navigation system, and some sources indicate that they also use the Inertial Navigation System (INS) to operate under high-intensity electromagnetic spectrum to avoid electronic jamming. By doing this, the UMPK kits turn the dumb bombs into highly precise mini cruise missiles with folded wings, which manoeuvre the bomb towards the target in all environments. In June 2025, it was reported that such glide bombs could hit and destroy targets up to a range of 100 kilometres from the launching position.
Becoming a true standoff weapon
The earlier versions of the UMPK kits enabled the FAB-Series glide bombs to hit and destroy targets up to a range of 60 to 80 kilometres. Later, Russia modified the glide kits, and the range was enhanced to around 100 kilometres depending on the altitude of the launching platform. A commentary published by the U.S. RAND research organization admitted this fact in June 2024: “Glide bombs are cheap. Russia is firing hundreds a week at Ukrainian targets at and behind the front lines.” It further suggested that “these bombs are small and difficult to spot on radar.” The author of this article also believes that glide bombs are relatively hard to detect, track, and intercept.
However, even with the 100-kilometer striking range, the Operations Security (OPSEC) of the launching aircraft was at risk of being within the striking range of Ukrainian air defence weapons, especially the American-built MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. The Russian military planners demonstrated a remarkable military adaptation with the innovation to install relatively small rocket motors to assist the glide bombs to reach even farther targets within the Ukrainian territory.
On November 14, 2025, Reuters cited Major General Vadym Skibitsky’s interview, which revealed that now Russia could use its glide bombs to hit and destroy Ukrainian targets up to a range of almost 200 kilometres. In October 2025, Major General Vadym Skibitsky, the Deputy Chief of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence said that “Russia completed the development and combat testing phase of the new bombs in recent months.” It also cited the enormous capability of Russia to indigenously produce glide bombs to be used against Ukrainian targets. If the Russians could install more powerful rocket motors on their glide bombs, the range could be significantly increased, and the safe striking range could strategically benefit the Russian air power.
Conclusions
The modern battlefield is complex, and it requires bold solutions. The Russian military adaptation of employing rocket motors to enhance the striking range of its glide bombs is a great leap forward that could significantly impact the outcome of the ongoing military conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. These rocket-assisted precision glide bombs are standoff weapons that are far cheaper than cruise missiles, yet they offer similar destructive power with the variety of aerial launch platforms. Also, the warhead size could be used according to the nature of the target. It can be estimated that with such innovative weapons, the tide of war likely will turn in Russia’s favour. And, if Ukraine continues to solely rely on foreign weapons for its war effort, it may further lose its warfighting capabilities in the months to come.
Muhammad Ali Baig is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI), Pakistan. He is a Ph.D. candidate and a distinguished graduate of National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Pakistan
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