CZK - PB-250

Parachute braked cougar 250kg calibre


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URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#367649 Version : 0

Diskuse

I tried to find out more about the PB-250 aerial bomb and there is not much information about it. It is mainly known from photos of Czech MiG-23BN.
However, I managed to find out a little bit. First of all it is not a Russian (Soviet) bomb, but is of Czechoslovak origin developed in the late 70s and produced until 1990 in Poličské strojírky with the name MARS.


It exists in two variants, a triple-burst version with a parachute for low-altitude dropping, designated OF-250 MARS, and an anti-concrete version with a rectifying parachute and subsequently accelerating URM-2 rocket engine, designated PB-250 MARS. Both variants share the same body and look the same at first glance.


I am not aware of it ever being exported.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#700212 Version : 0
I will add one more observation. In the early 1990s, when the first information about this bomb became public, the PB-250 was stated to be "PB" anti-crete. However, this information quickly faded.


The PB-250 designation appeared in the mid-1990s in the Russian computer game "Su-27" with the implication that it was Soviet in origin and that it was triple-burst. Since then, all publishers have copied this erroneous information in their publications without making any effort to verify it. I am amazed that no one has noticed that this bomb was in the armament of only the Czechoslovak air force and subsequently the Czech and Slovak air forces.


Anyway, I am attaching the text from the tender notice, listing two different Mars bombs: the OF-250 and the PB-250.


If you know a little bit of Czechoslovak military nomenclature, it will be clear to you that OF-250 is a triple burst. And the PB-250 is an anti-concrete.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#701374 Version : 0
I would edit the first post by PN79 - as far as I know, the manufacturer of these bombs was actually Vlárské strojírny.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#701382 Version : 0
Thank you for the information. Poličské strojírny as a manufacturer are listed in the offer of Army Point mock-up here:
m.facebook.com


Isn't it possible that both machine shops were involved in the production? I don't have more information on that unfortunately.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#701403 Version : 0
I am not able to assess the share of Poličské strojírny at the moment. In the meantime I have traced some more data.


According to the document Documentation for the elaboration of the special part of the 7th Five-Year Plan and the special part of the implementing State Plan for the Development of the National Economy of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic for 1982 - Defence and Security of March 1981, the production of MARS bombs was to start in 1985 in a total number of 100 units (50 in the anti-concrete version and 50 in the three-torn version). The 1979 production plans called for a total of 7 500 bombs to be produced in both versions (3 000 in the anti-concrete version and 4 500 in the triple-burst version) by 1990. The manufacturer was designated VHJ ZVS Brno - k.p. Vlárské strojírny Slavičín.


The bombs were introduced into the CSLA armament under the designation:
OFAB-250-270-TU (250 kg calibre airborne three-hole bomb with braking device).
BETAB-250-270-TU-RD (250 kg aerial anti-concrete bomb with braking device and accelerating rocket engine)


Attached is the text from the magazine Apologia 1994. If someone would like, he can make a title table from these few data (in that case it would be good if each of the bombs had its own topic).
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#701887 Version : 0
Excellent information.
But the black and white photo from the fact post is not Mars, but Soviet bombs.
The names OFAB and BETAB are quite confusing as there are Soviet equivalents but they are different from Mars.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/CZK-PB-250-t101774#701971 Version : 0
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