Footage has been released of the Russian Aerospace Forces (RuAF) targeting an Daesh ammunition truck with a laser-guided bomb in southern Raqqa Governorate. As can be seen from the point of view of the Russian jet’s targeting pod, the bomb hits the truck to within a meter of the laser designation, obliterating the vehicle.
Immediately after the fireball from the bomb blast clears, ammunition begins to cook-off, clearly revealing what the contents of the truck was.
This airstrike by the RuAF is undoubtedly in support of an ongoing offensive by pro-government forces against Daesh in southern Raqqa Governorate. To this end, the Russian are, as they generally always have, delivering both interdiction airstrikes and strategic airstrikes with precision ordinance in order to degrade the terrorist group’s ability to maintain front-line operations.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that – as RuAF footage has shown lately – there has been a marked improvement in the accuracy of Russian airstrikes. Most bombs (and even missiles, which are being used more often) now hit their target to within a meter of the designation point.
It is most likely the case that the RuAF is now choosing to employ laser-guided munitions to hit key targets as opposed to GPS-guided munitions (which are considerably less accurate).
