ON APRIL 22, the Russian defence ministry announced that "crews of Su-30SM fighters from the Eastern Military District's aviation unit destroyed well-fortified targets of [a] simulated enemy at a training ground in Transbaikalia" It was further reported that the aircraft made "about ten sorties to the Mukhor-Konduy aviation range" deploying "imitating aerial bombs'! The most interesting aspects are the bombs: the term "imitating" is used in Russia for weapons that replicate a nuclear explosion. Sometime later, pictures of a Su-30SM fighter with an IAB-500 bomb suspended on the rear centreline pylon appeared on the Russian internet - together with images of the bomb explosion. The photos were apparently taken during these exercises. The IAB-500 (Imitatsionnaya Aviatsionnaya Bomba, imitating aerial bomb; 500kg, 1,102lb class) was created in the early 1970s and is externally almost identical to the tactical nuclear bomb of this period - the RN-24 (izdeliye 244N). This was the first airborne nuclear bomb produced in series in the Soviet Union, intended to arm the MiG-21 and Su-7 fighters, among others. Although later generations of nuclear bombs followed, the IAB-500 is still used to imitate them in exercises. In addition to the tactical IAB-500, the IAB-3000 bomb for heavy bombers is also in use in Russia. Nuclear weapons are of considerable importance to the Russian armed forces; all Russian combat aircraft - including fighters - are adapted to carry nuclear bombs or missiles.
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