A Potent Ukrainian Glide-Bomb with very little outlay
The cheap and nasty answer to Russia's not-so-cheap and very nasty glide-bombs (see the Economist article described below) is even cheaper and even nastier.(see HEAT and HESH rounds on Youtube) Why? Due to being cheap and made/released in great quantities. They'd be great terror-inducing weapons and simply not able to be defended against (not detectable enroute... just like these Russian glide-bombs aren't, once released). The Ukrainian weapon just requires some hydrogen-fueled balloons to get them aloft in any weather conditions.
You mount a GLONASS targeting device on a HEAT munition (High Explosive anti-tank) or HESH (high explosive squash Head) as currently being utilized on UKRAINE's very successful rotary-powered anti-armour drones - but give it set-in-place glider wings with ailerons and an empennage (tail surface) for steerability/stability. You then attach it to one (or two or three - if weight dictates) cheap as chips meteorological radio-sonde balloons and set it to fly UPWARDS - and they can go as high as 32-35kms (115,000 feet altitude ) before bursting and releasing their payload to glide off to a reasonably proximate Russian City in great numbers (and almost simultaneous delivery). With a glide-ratio of 25:1 (8.5 meter wingspan) they could go as far as 130kms at a speed of around 100km/hr. Admittedly it could be an area-designated weapon but could also be delivered with quite some precision. It arrives out of nowhere and is quite undetectable enroute (just like the Russian glide-bombs). Similar to the NAZI V1 Pulse-Jet propelled glide-bombs, but quite a bit cheaper and simpler to produce in large numbers.
Because the means of their delivery would be quite unobvious, the Russkies could not copy-cat the simple technology. The wings could be wooden or aluminium (or a straight-wing plank with a rounded leading edge) and utilize GLONASS- steered model aircraft control tech. The targeting could simply be a homing to pre-set coordinates - with a barometrically triggered vertical dive from a certain height AGL (which achieves fusing of the round as if it had been gun-fired). There would be no need for deceptive routing. A simply go-to point could be programmed in. The burst Meteorological balloon's release mechanism would be a RAM air turbine propeller in the glider's nose unscrewing the balloon attachment once it was in free-flight and achieving a directional gliding velocity. Radiosondes would not be carried. Each radiosonde costs around $200 and weighs around 7 kgs. So around 3 balloons required for an anti-tank round (53.4lbs/24,2kgs) mounted at the glider's Center of gravity would do the job easily (adequate but less rapid buoyancy for the same altitude gain). A 120mm round for an M1 Abrams' tank weighs 40lbs. Actually delivering it over a range of 130 kms would make it a quite potent weapon (particularly if favourable winds aloft could also be factored into the targeting and launch-points). It's all very much in keeping with the philosophy of using a $750 piece of kit to take out a $10M tank. It's become a protracted war of attritive expenses. The Russians have lost many fighters delivering their glide-bombs from ranges of 65 kms or so at heights of over 30Kft. With some design acumen, I think this could be a table-turner. BAE(UK) should get onto it.
from The Economist: | Cheap and nasty
Russia’s ferocious glide-bomb campaign ( see economist.com /ukraine-crisis)
For now, Ukraine has no answer to it