R550-series general-purpose bombs

R550-series
R551 125 kg bomb
Type	General-purpose bomb
Place of origin	Carloso
Service history
In service	1984–present
Used by	Carlosian Armed Forces
Production history
Variants	R551, R552, R553, R554, R555, R556
Specifications
Filling	PBXN-109

The R550-series of general-purpose bombs are a family of modular, air-dropped explosives widely utilised by the Carlosian Armed Forces. Designed in the early 1980s and entering service in 1984, they replaced several types of bombs in service with the Carlosian military, and feature a streamlined design intended to minimise drag. They range in size from the 125 kg R551 to the 4,000 kg R556. The R550-series first saw use in combat in 1987 during the Bourgougian Blitz, where they were used extensively against Bourgougian military forces and dual-use infrastructure. Subsequently, they would be used against the Acrarian military during the 1991 Carlosian intervention in the Acrary Civil War, the design having been further refined due to previous experience. It was during this conflict that the number of roles fulfilled by the design greatly expanded, with the debut of precision-guided variants and bunker busters. In more recent years, they have been upgraded with Accuracy and Stand-off Rectification (ASOR) guidance and wing modules which have converted them into precision-guided glide bombs. Initially effective against stationary targets, the addition of laser seekers in combination with ASOR allow them to effectively eliminate moving targets as well. Different configurations also allow the bombs to function as an anti-ship weapon; when coupled with a radar seeker, or alternatively as an air-dropped naval mine.

Starting in 2021, the Carlosian Air Force revealed it had begun testing R551 bombs equipped with a novel ASOR-E kit, which adds a micro-turbojet engine with a maximum thrust of 0.4 kN and an internal fuel tank. This extends the range of the bomb to approximately 150 km (130 nmi, 93 mi), effectively turning ASOR-E equipped bombs into cheap cruise missiles to augment Carloso's arsenal of more sophisticated weaponry. Low-rate initial production began in early 2022, with industry sources claiming a combined unit production cost of D£33,580 ($73,000). In 2024 an ASOR-E equipped R553 bomb was debuted, with a touted range of 550 km. Preliminary studies have begun on developing a similar R554 variant, which could match the payload delivered by a S774 Rábiar air-launched cruise missile.

Since the debut of the ASOR system in 2006, an average of 500 kits per month have been built. As of 2024, the Carlosian Air Force had some 108,000 ASOR-equipped bombs in its inventory. Production levels of ASOR-E systems are believed to be about 100 a month, with about 3,600 ASOR-E equipped bombs as of 2024. Production levels are currently being scaled up significantly, trending towards 1,000 month for ASOR kits and 250 for AS0R-E kits respectively.

Operational history

In 2024 the decommissioned Carlosian Navy cruiser CN Senet (CGN-11) was sunk during a military exercise using an ASOR-equipped, anti-ship configured R555 bomb. Detonating beneath the ship's keel, the CN Senet was instantly broken in two and sank in under a minute. With its 1,000 kg warhead, the use of such a weapon against a cruiser-sized target was regarded as 'extremely overkill' and 'highly impractical' by many defence experts. The weapon had been launched by a F15 Reiterar from a distance of 40 km.

Comparison

	R551	R552	R553	R554	R555	R556
Picture
Mass	125 kg	250 kg	500 kg	1,000 kg	2,000 kg	4,000 kg
Length	1.91 m
Diameter	0.24 m
Filling	PBXN-109
Filling weight	50 kg	100 kg	225 kg	450 kg	1,000 kg	2,200 kg