The UK is sending laser-guided Paveway IV bombs to Ukraine. They can be mounted on F-16 fighter aircraft or old Soviet planes

5 comments

1. Bit surprised by this honestly…Paveway IV is a dual laser/GPS guided bomb – [here’s](https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2022/11/paveway-iv/) a good rundown on the weapon if you want one – so they can be dropped without a laser designator and rely on GPS if they’re being used against solely static targets. In that sense they can be used by MiG-29 just as JDAM and AASM are…but compared to those weapons they have no range extension kits – neither wings nor rocket booster, so I’d have thought that getting into range to use one would be a bit of a tall order.

   Unless the plan is to MacGuyver a wing-kit as has been done for the Russian UMPKs – that would probably work and if Ukraine does that I’d like the UK to buy that ASAP…it was something that was often discussed but never actually procured, and the experience of this war is that range-extension is mandatory I think.

2. Hm…man this thing is quite useless without air superiority or enablers that can establish a temporary air superiority, like SEAD platforms.

   EDIT for down voters:

   This is not a glide bomb, like russians have. This isn’t a standoff weapon but a guided weapon. Airplane that releases this weapon has to be on medium to high altitude to release it, and quite close to the target, which turns that aircraft in to a very obvious target for all sorts of GBADs that operate around frontlines.

3. Could please anyone explain to an uneducated peasant like me what a laser guided bomb actually means? Does the bomb follow a laser on the target? If so, who is pointing the laser?

4. Can that be combined with the JDAM kits?

5. Sending an F16 so close to the frontline, is high risk. Its so much safer to send a dumb shell, an excalibur- like shell, Glmrs/glsdb at the radget. I doubt even taking out a bunker is worth the risk.