Russian planes have been dropping bombs on Russian territory on their way to attack Ukraine. Large aerial bombs are falling on Russian cities and villages, reminding Russians of their own incompetence and the horrors they are wreaking on Ukraine every day. But why do Russian planes drop their bombs accidentally? Why does this happen again and again – why don’t they learn from these mistakes?
FAB-250 bombs collected and disposed of in Ukraine. Image credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
The intelligence of the UK Ministry of Defense has analysed new cases of Russian planes losing their aerial bombs over the territory of their country. Such incidents are becoming more common now, but they have happened before.
UK intelligence has looked into a report by the Russian Telegram channel Astra about two incidents involving the dropping of FAB-250 aerial bombs on Russian villages in the Belgorod region. One bomb fell on a farm in the town of Postnikovo, the second – on a street in the village of Streletka. The latter caused more problems – about 150 civilians were evacuated within a radius of 500 metres. Neither of these bombs exploded because they were not ready to be dropped. In other words, the fuses that protect against the accidental detonation worked properly.
Russian planes lose their bombs surprisingly often. Last year, large aerial bombs fell even in the city of Belgorod. Russians are complaining about this on social networks – they would like Ukraine to be attacked more precisely so they could live forgetting that their country started this senseless war. But larger investigations in Russia are not being launched. It seems that they do not care about it too much.
UK intelligence cannot say for certain whether such incidents are due to poor aircraft armament procedures or poor in-flight performance by the crew. However, it appears to be a combination of both of these factors. “The increasing frequency of these occurrences likely demonstrates a degree of air and ground crew fatigue within the Russian front line air, as well as exposing inadequate training,” the review said.
In simple terms, bombs are not activated before they are dropped. This means that when they are dropped by accident, they do not explode. However, this still has to be concerning. FAB-250 weighs 250 kg – even if it does not explode it can kill several people just by crushing them to death. And these fuses can be damaged because of a hard hit.
Russians have also been finding their own cruise missiles that crashed without reaching Ukraine. None of it is forcing Russians to raise demands of safety and security. They are ok with these dangerous mishaps as long as they can continue their war against Ukraine.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: Eurointegration.com.ua, UK Ministry of Defence Twitter