Russian guided aerial bombs (KABs) remain one of the primary threats to Ukrainian defenders on the front lines. Neutralizing these munitions or their carriers is proving extremely difficult, as Western military doctrines predicated on total air superiority are failing to translate to the realities of the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Andriy Dmytrenko discussed these challenges during a broadcast with political analyst Yuriy Romanenko. Commenting on the impossibility of blindly copying NATO doctrine during hostilities in Ukraine, the officer noted that Western armies are accustomed to fighting exclusively under conditions of total dominance in the skies. Without this component, any Western strategy loses its practical meaning.
"If the U.S. Army—or NATO conventionally—gains air superiority, they have pairs of F-16s loitering almost everywhere, and a strike can be delivered within a minute to any point... Can we oppose such power with our drones? You cannot shoot down an F-16 or another aircraft with a drone if your air defense has been knocked out," Dmytrenko explained.
The officer acknowledged that Russian aviation maintains a substantial advantage due to the mass employment of heavy guided bombs. The enemy uses these to precision-strike the most valuable targets on the front.
"The Russians have a serious bonus in the form of KABs, and it is a very unpleasant thing... They work extensively against individual artillery positions and drone pilot locations... The situation with KABs is heavily stacked against us," the military officer noted.
He added that a relative silver lining for Ukrainian infantry remains the inaccuracy of Russian targeting: "There were situations where a KAB landed 50-100 meters from positions, and everyone survived, with equipment remaining undamaged."
According to Dmytrenko, Russian pilots release KABs without entering the range of short-range air defenses—approximately 20-30 kilometers from the front line. Pushing Russian aviation back requires either long-range ground-based systems or Western fighters equipped with appropriate missiles.
"A SAM system like the Patriot could, in principle, shoot them down if it were positioned about 50 km away... I understand the original logic of the F-16 and the Swedish Gripen—they were designed specifically for this task," the officer emphasized.
However, deploying expensive air defense systems too close to the front is extremely dangerous, as they immediately become priority targets for enemy reconnaissance and ballistic missiles. Therefore, expanding the capabilities of Ukrainian aviation—specifically F-16s and airborne early warning systems—remains the key to solving the KAB problem.