Russia plans to begin serial production of its new Drel gliding bomb this year, state news agency TASS reported, citing a representative of state defense conglomerate Rostec in remarks published Wednesday.
The bombs, some of Russia's newest weapons, are capable of flying independently using a gliding flight path toward a target at a greater distance and opening on it at "the right moment," TASS reported.
"To date, the product has passed all tests," TASS quoted an unnamed Rostec representative as saying. "Production of the first batch of the Drel aerial bomb is planned for 2024."
The Drel is designed to destroy armored vehicles, ground radar stations, power plant control centers and anti-aircraft missile systems, according to TASS. Military analysts say it is also resistant to jamming and radar detection, making it difficult to destroy.
Russian and Western sources indicate that the Drel is a type of cluster bomb. Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 countries. They often release large quantities of small bombs that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that do not explode can represent a danger for decades.
Ukraine, which has received cluster munitions from the United States but has pledged to use them only to clear concentrations of enemy soldiers, has claimed that Russia has already been deploying its bombs in Ukraine, calling them "an extremely serious threat."
TASS quoted the Rostec representative as saying that information about the use of the bombs in Ukraine is confidential. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in July last year that Russia would use cluster bombs in Ukraine if necessary.
TASS indicated that if the destructive element of the Drel bomb does not work on a given target, it will self-destruct after a certain time and "will not pose a danger to the population after the cessation of hostilities."
