This video will let you join a Russian Tu-22M3 Backfire bomber on a high altitude carpet bombing mission over Syria

November 19, 2015 Russia, Syria, Troubled Areas, War on ISIS
David Cenciotti

Russian Backfires are using iron bombs from high altitude over Syria.

Yesterday we posted an interesting video shot from ground level of a swarm of 19 iron bombs falling from the sky.

Here’s footage from the other side.

The footage was mainly shot from the cockpit (and bomb bay) of some of the 14 Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers that on Nov. 17 flew 5h 20min-round trip mission from their deployment base in Ossetia to attack IS targets in Syria along with 5 x Tu-160 Blackjack and 6 x Tu-95MS Bear heavy bombers from Engels that during the first raid launched 34 KH-555 and KH-101 cruise missiles.

As you can see the Backfire dropped FAB-250 iron bombs from very high altitude: whatever they hit, they were probably not too worried about CEP (Circular Error Probability) nor did they have contraints because of potential collateral damage.

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About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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15 Comments

  1. Seems a bit crude considering today’s technologies. I wonder if they have a lot of ‘old stock’ to get rid of!

    • “I wonder if they have a lot of ‘old stock’ to get rid of!”

      In GW1 a vast majority of munitions used by US Aircraft (fixed winged) for ground targets were unguided munitions left over from the Cold War. I think only something like 2% were actually guided or “smart bombs”. Now something like 98% of munitions used by US Aircraft since 2006 have been PGMs.

  2. What would be the accuracy in terms of radius of bombs dropped from this high? Could they not land miles away with hefty winds aloft?

  3. carpet B, my favorite carpet B. Don’t worry! Bombs drop point calculates the on-board computer.

  4. I’m sure the terrorists can appreciate a good old fashioned indiscriminate bombing. They might even be proud of us.

  5. The Russians still fighting the same way they did in WW2 in the 21st century.
    It’s like calling someone using a telephone magneto in 2015

    • they do it pragmatically, these bombs are very cheap but they do the job well, where more appropriate they use more precise munition like KAB-500 and cruise missiles.. they are still behind overall – no doubt, but they started modernisation just 9-10 years ago..

    • US must have used the same telephone in Afghanistan in 2001 as well then :D

      And calculated dropping point by use of satellite navigation (GLONASS) must be so WW2 era as well.
      But yeah, it must be better to use few millions on PGM to destroy an oil installation in the middle of desert.

      ps: it’s like taking a dump on a golden toilet instead of a regular one, it makes no real difference.
      http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01412/Golden-toilet_682_1412928a.jpg

    • And the US has hangar queens like the F-35 that cannot fly. MIC fleeced US taxpayers $1 trillion on that useless turkey. The Russian missiles are state of the art. They have among the best programmers in the world. Today’s military needs the best missiles and software. The gun software for the useless F-35 will not be ready until 2019. My guess is it is written by useless H 1-B programmers that Rubio, McCain, Cruz and all the Dems love.

      Kalibr M cruise missiles launched on very small coastal ships in the Caspian are state of the art. The anti-ship version goes supersonic at the terminal phase. So a small littoral Russian boat could take out a US carrier in the Persian Gulf.

      The average Russian is far more literate than the average American. Half of Russia is not on EBT/WIC. Putin and Russian politicians have more concern for their country and people than the bought and paid for US politicians and The Pentagram.

      The Russians also have a pair. Good luck fighting against them in a ground war with your transgendered troops. Go back to watching your Trayvon ball games and your thug ball worship. It is not just Ob-ma either. The whole US govt is corrupt and bankrupt. The 2016 elections will change very little.

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