Three BetAB-500ShP ready to be loaded onto an aicraft.
Source: www.mil.ru -
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The BetAB-500ShP is a late Cold War era concrete piercing anti-runway bomb of Soviet origin. Whereas other BetAB bombs are mostly intended for use against hardened targets like bunkers, the ShP version has been optimized for low level anti-runway use.
Several unique features are associated with the BetAB-500ShP. It is both parachute retarded and rocket assisted. The bomb portion itself is a rather standard thick walled general purpose bomb with delayed impact fuse. The conical cannister at the rear holds a parachute. This allows for a low level drop at an altitude as limited as 170 meters. Furthermore it makes the bomb point straight down towards the runway before ignition of the rocket engine. The center mounted 10-nozzle solid fuel rocket engine provides extra velocity and penetration, driving the bomb straight into the runway at speed.
A total of 77 kg high explosive with a delayed impact fuse is housed inside the BetAB-500ShP. Combined with the kinetic energy of the penetrating impact this results in a 4.5 m diameter crater with a 150 square meter damage area. Although intended for use against runways, the BetAB-500ShP can still be used in a more generic anti-structures role.
The main difficulty of an anti-runway bomb is delivering it over what is usually a well defended target. The BetAB-500ShP tries to achieve this by low altitude delivery at high speeds. The BetAB-500ShP is a highly capable anti-runway bomb. A drawback is its high weight, reducing the number of aircraft that can easily carry multiple of these bombs at high low level speeds.
Various Soviet/Russian aircraft can carry and drop the BetAB-500ShP anti-runway bomb. The Su-24 and newer Su-34 strike aircraft possess the ability to carry multiple of these bombs at high speeds. The Su-25 ground attack aircraft cannon reach these high low level speeds at full weight, but has the ability to carry multiple of these bombs. The multirole variants of the Su-27 family of aircraft also possess the ability to carry multiple bombs at high speeds.
The BetAB-500ShP has been adopted by the Russian air forces and has been marketed for export sales. This bomb has been used by Russian forces in Syria against urban targets.
Live fire demonstration of BetAB-500ShP bombs. The bombs on the left are still being retarded by parachute, while those on the right have their rocket motors ignited.
Source: saidpvo.livejournal.com -
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