- Ukraine is getting a new type of laser-guided missile from the UK, the Paveway IV.
- While "pretty old," they can do good damage against poorly-defended Russia targets, an expert said.
- Ukraine probably won't risk its bomber planes taking on heavier defenses, with them, though.
Ukraine is about to get a new type of laser-guided bomb that can wreck "soft" Russian targets, a military analyst said.
Britain is giving Ukraine a cache of Paveway IV bombs as part of its latest aid delivery, its defense ministry told Business Insider.
Paveway IV bombs are dropped from planes, and weigh in at around 500 lbs. They have laser guidance that means they can operate even in bad weather, or through enemy smoke screens, per the UK's Royal Air Force.
While the bombs are "pretty old," they are "high precision" weapons and a "very" reliable technology, Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the German think tank European Resilience Initiative Center, told BI.
"This is a good weapon against soft targets — that means air defenses, radars, inventory, depots, and communication centers will be the primary target," he said.
Such devices are significant, he said, because they could compete against Russia's gliding bombs.
Russia has used gliding bombs to devastating effect against Ukrainian positions, pounding its defenses and opening the way for Russian troops to make advances on the front lines.
But the Paveway IV bombs, in conjunction with other high-precision weapons Ukraine has, would be "very" effective if Ukraine were to mount the same kind of operation against Russia, Sumlenny said.
James Black, assistant director of defense research at RAND Europe, had a different take.
He told BI that while the bombs will likely be of "some" use, their range is an issue.
Ukraine's air force is small and much less advanced than Russia's, making it hard for Ukraine to risk them on bombing raids where Russia could shoot them down.
Black said the Paveways are "unlikely to have a transformational impact on the battlefield."
He said that the US-supplied longer-range ATACMS munitions that are heading to Ukraine in the latest package approved by Congress will be of "much greater" value.
He said they can target a wider range of Russian targets and do not rely on navigating enemy air defenses or risking manned aircraft.
Justin Bronk, a Russia and air warfare expert at the UK's Royal United Services Institute, said that Ukraine probably wouldn't be able to make much use of the laser targeting because it lacks the supporting equipment to go with it.
Aircraft dropping them would likely have to do so as far away as possible, limiting their precision he said.
Besides Paveway IV bombs, the UK's aid package to Ukraine, which amounts to some $625 million, includes about 400 vehicles, 1,600 missiles, and four million rounds of small-arms ammo.