UMPK (bomb kit)

UMPK (Russian: УМПК; Унифицированный модуль планирования и коррекции, Unified gliding and correction module) is a munition guidance kit first developed by the Russian Bazalt Design Bureau for converting unguided Soviet bombs into precision-guided glide bombs.

The guidance system and gliding function of the UMPK kit can provide ordinary aerial bombs with longer-range and more accurate strike capabilities.

[2] At the beginning of January 2023, Russian users on social networks shared a photo of the FAB-500 M-62 with an attached kit resembling a JDAM.

[3][4][5] At the end of March 2023, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, reported that the Russian military began to use winged modified aerial bombs with a warhead weighing 500 kg (1,100 lb) more often.

Russian planes drop them from a distance of tens of kilometers on targets in the front-line zone without entering the Ukrainian air defense range.

[13] In June 2024, the Ukrainian Air Force announced a similar program to create an analog of the UMPK bombs.

[18] The heavy use of civilian-grade electronics allows kits to be mass produced cheaply but also makes them unreliable compared to western equivalents resulting in bombs falling within Russia, although safeguard systems mean detonations are rare.

FAB-500 bombs with UMPK kits deploying their wings
FAB-3000 with UMPK kit