From ‘The Analyst’ (Military & Strategic) X: MilStratOnX

THE FAB-3000

Few bombs of a conventional nature have been put into serial production and caused so many problems for those on the receiving end.
The FAB-3000 is a 3,000kg bomb with a 1,600kg yield of explosives.
For those who prefer imperial/US measurements that’s 6,600lbs and 3,500lbs respectively.
These have a blast fragment radius of 286m give or take a few meters - or 900ft.
The average crater depth is around 4m or 13ft. The diameter around 20m or 66ft.
The type is carried by an SU-34 in its centreline mount and the original version had a range of 50-60km, but wasn’t entirely accurate, although its blast wave was more than adequate to make up for it.
The bomb is carried upside down, then dropped and rolls over as its wings and tail section deploy. At this point the control system or UMPK, uses GLONASS to guide it to the target.
Since its initial introduction the Russians have improved the UMPK control system, strengthening the wings and tail section, and in doing so increased the range to 65-70km - making the launching aircraft safer as it tries to stay out of the range of Patriot systems.
The downsides of this bomb is it’s actually more visible to radar - it’s quite large after all, but it lacks any infra red signal to utilise many of the anti-air systems that could shoot it down.
It’s also quite slow and requires the launching aircraft to approach from a high altitude to give the benefit of range because of its weight.
At present there is no means of stopping these weapons and around 300 are being dropped monthly in addition to the smaller versions of the bomb.
The only solution is anti-air systems getting at the launching aircraft, and the arrival of F-16 along with more Patriot batteries will hopefully start to redress the imbalance.