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Ukraine Unveils First Homegrown Guided Aerial Bomb for Combat Use
Ukraine announced its first domestically developed guided aerial bomb capable of striking targets dozens of kilometers inside Russia. The weapon carries a 250-kilogram warhead and costs roughly one-third as much as comparable U.S. systems.
May 18, 6:29 PM·1m read2 sources
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Ukraine has produced its first homegrown guided aerial bomb and declared it ready for combat use, the Ministry of Defense announced Monday. The weapon, developed over the past 17 months by DG Industry under the Brave1 defense innovation program, carries a 250-kilogram warhead and can reach targets dozens of kilometers behind enemy lines.
It is a winged, engineless glide bomb that uses satellite guidance and is released from aircraft at altitude.
Fedorov said the bomb gives Ukraine an indigenous alternative to Western precision munitions for mid-range strikes. The ministry has already purchased an experimental batch and is preparing to deploy the weapons on the front. The system is purpose-built rather than a retrofit kit, officials said.
It can operate day or night, in any weather, with launch preparations taking less than 30 minutes. Ukrainian pilots are currently training on combat scenarios with the new munition.
Ukrainian officials said the bomb costs about one-third as much as an American JDAM-ER, which runs roughly $66,000 per unit. The lower price allows Kyiv to conserve scarce longer-range Western missiles for deeper targets. Russia currently drops more than 250 guided aerial bombs on Ukrainian positions each day, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian engineers began work on their own version after Russia started using similar weapons regularly in 2023. " — Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Defense, May 2026 (Defense News) The ministry said the first Ukrainian guided aerial bombs will soon be used against enemy targets.
