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Ukraine will receive a new type of laser-guided missile, the Paveway IV, from Great Britain.
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Although they are “quite old,” they can do good damage against poorly defended Russian targets, an expert said.
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However, Ukraine is unlikely to risk its bombers attacking stronger defenses.
A military analyst said Ukraine is about to receive a new type of laser-guided bomb that can destroy “soft” Russian targets.
Britain is gifting Ukraine a cache of Paveway IV bombs as part of its latest aid shipment, the Defense Ministry told Business Insider.
Paveway IV bombs are dropped from aircraft and weigh about 500 pounds. According to the British Royal Air Force, they have laser guidance that allows them to operate even in bad weather or through enemy smoke screens.
Although the bombs are “quite old,” they are “highly precise” weapons and “very” reliable technology, Sergei Sumlenny, founder of the German think tank European Resilience Initiative Center, told BI.
“This is a good weapon against soft targets – that means air defense, radar, inventory, depots and communication centers will be the main target,” he said.
Such devices are important, he said, because they could compete with Russia’s glide bombs.
Russia has used glide bombs with devastating effect against Ukrainian positions, destroying its defenses and paving the way for Russian troops to advance to the front.
But the Paveway IV bombs, combined with other high-precision weapons Ukraine has, would be “very” effective if Ukraine were to launch a similar operation against Russia, Sumlenny said.
James Black, deputy director for defense research at RAND Europe, had a different opinion.
He told BI that while the bombs are likely to be of “some” use, their range is a concern.
The Ukrainian air force is small and much less advanced than Russia’s, making it difficult for Ukraine to risk it on bombing missions in which Russia could shoot it down.
Black said the Paveways are “unlikely to have a transformative impact on the battlefield.”
He said the U.S.-supplied longer-range ATACMS munitions going to Ukraine as part of the latest package approved by Congress will be of “much greater” value.
He said they could attack a wider range of Russian targets and would not rely on directing enemy air defenses or risking manned aircraft.
Justin Bronk, a Russia and air warfare expert at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, said Ukraine is unlikely to be able to use laser targeting on a large scale because it lacks the appropriate supporting equipment.
Planes that need to drop them would likely have to do so as far as possible, limiting their precision, he said.
The British aid package for Ukraine, which amounts to around $625 million, includes Paveway IV bombs, around 400 vehicles, 1,600 rockets and four million rounds of small arms ammunition.
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