Russia announces plans for mass-production of new cluster bombs

"To date, the product has passed all types of tests. The production of the first batch of the Drel aerial bomb is planned for 2024," the Russian news agency TASS cited an unnamed representative at Rostec.

According to TASS, these bombs are capable of autonomous flight using a precision-guided trajectory, reaching targets at greater distances and detonating above them at the required moment.

The development of the new aerial bomb was initially announced in 2016. It is claimed that the glide Drel bomb is designed for striking armored vehicles, ground-based radar stations, control points of power installations, and anti-aircraft missile complexes. The bombs are purportedly resistant to interference and radar detection, making their destruction more challenging.

Both Russian and Western sources assert that Drel is a type of cluster bomb. Typically, cluster bombs release many smaller bombs that can cause indiscriminate casualties over a large area. Unexploded submunitions from such bombs can pose a threat for decades.

TASS, citing a representative from Rostec, said that information regarding the use of these bombs in the war with Ukraine is confidential. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in July of the previous year that Russia would use cluster bombs in Ukraine if necessary.

Cluster munitions on Russian missiles and bombs

Earlier in January, it was reported that the Russian military plans to equip Kh-32 cruise missiles with cluster munitions for strikes in Ukraine.

According to Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia has repeatedly used both cluster munitions and incendiary munitions. According to him, any missile or bomb can be equipped with a cluster component, and nothing unusual about that.

Russia regularly incorporates the use of cluster munition shelling in its military tactics, often targeting civilian populations in Ukraine.