August 27, 2026
Debris at the site of yesterday’s strike in Donetsk indicates that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have received and are already hitting the Rashists with a new cruise missile with a range of 550 km, which was secretly transferred from the US, and which is likely launched from F-16, Su-27 and MiG-29, so what kind of missile is this?
Yesterday, the Ukrainian Defense Forces launched a massive strike with several types of air-launched cruise missiles on a command post and a reserve command post of the Russian army in temporarily occupied Donetsk. Immediately after the strikes, photos of the wreckage found at the landing sites began to appear online.
Thanks to markings on one of the wreckages, the experts determined that one of the targets was hit by Shtorm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles. However, other interesting wreckages attracted special attention, namely the remains of the wings and their attachment systems to the fuselage.
So, after studying them, the investigators drew attention to the markings on the wreckage. Among other markings, you can see the code 6F8W7, which belongs to the Australian company Ferra Aerospace.
This company cooperates with many global companies, including the American Boeing. Since the 2000s. A contract has been concluded between Boeing and Ferra Aerospace, under which the Australian company manufactures wing kits for the JDAM-ER aerial glide bombs, which are very similar in appearance to the remains that we saw at the landing site.
However, the JDAM-ER has a maximum declared range of only 75 km. This would only be sufficient if launched from high altitude almost directly over the front line, which is not possible even with weakened Russian air defenses.
That is why some enemy sources stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces used the latest JDAM-LR with a jet engine, which has moved from the class of a glide bomb to the class of a cruise missile, and which was first tested only in April of this year. It has the same set of wings as the JDAM-ER.
Thanks to the installation of a jet engine, the JDAM-LR has a maximum declared range of over 300 nautical miles (555 kilometers), which is more than enough to strike Donetsk.
As for other characteristics, the JDAM-LR carries a 500-pound (226.7 kg) Mk-82 warhead. Judging by the likely landing site, it was more than enough to collapse a large 4-story factory building.
The JDAM-LR is guided using an inertial system and GPS. It is important to note that conventional JDAMs had problems with resistance to electronic warfare systems, but judging by the accurate hits of the JDAM-LR in Donetsk, these problems have probably been fixed.
JDAM-LR can theoretically be launched from any aircraft capable of using conventional JDAMs. In Ukraine, in addition to the F-16, it can also be launched from Soviet MiG-29s and Su-27s, which were specially modified for this purpose.
It is worth noting that the use of JDAM-LR is only an assumption, and there are currently no hard facts that would definitively confirm the presence of these missiles in Ukraine. It is also worth considering that if the Ukrainian Armed Forces have indeed received JDAM-LR, it is in very small quantities.
After all, the US has only recently launched mass production of JDAM-LR and ordered a small batch for itself. Therefore, if these kits, which convert bombs into cruise missiles, are indeed already in Ukraine, then it was probably a small batch that was transferred for testing in the conditions of modern warfare.