Russian Army To Start Receiving New Cluster Glide Bomb Drel In 2022 - Developer

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2020) Serial deliveries of Russia's new cluster glide bomb Drel to the country's army will start in 2021, the CEO of Tecmash arms industry company (part of state corporation Rostec) has said in an interview with Sputnik.

"We are now completing the state tests, we should finish this year. I believe the state customer will order some refinement, but the serial purchase of this item is planned for 2022," Alexander Kochkin said.

Drel can be launched by a carrier without entering the destruction envelope of the enemy weapon, and this is what makes the new cluster bomb unique, Kochkin noted.

Apart from that, Drel is capable of reaching a target independently. It is equipped with self-aiming combat elements.

"Even if the bomb cannot find the target, it will destroy itself routinely and will present no threat for the population when combat operations are over," Kochkin explained.

The PBK-500U Drel stealth cluster glide bomb, which can be used round-the-clock regardless of the weather and does not require the aircraft to enter air defense facilities' coverage area, is designed to destroy armored vehicles, ground-based radar stations and control centers.