- Ukraine approves indigenous turbojet-powered guided bombs for frontline combat
- Domestic guided bombs now hit military targets up to 200 kilometers away
- Seven Ukrainian manufacturers are now building guided bomb conversion systems domestically
Ukraine has officially approved several domestically built guided aerial bombs for combat use, including turbojet-powered versions capable of hitting targets up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) away.
Brig. Gen. Andrii Lebedenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, said several of these designs have already been used on the battlefield, while others remain in testing.
“We already have systems that use more than just gliding. They now carry turbojet engines to increase their operating range to between 100 and 200 kilometers,” Lebedenko said.
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Ukraine is expanding the range of indigenous guided bombs
The program began in 2024 as an effort to convert older unguided aerial bombs into precision-guided weapons after Ukraine lacked domestic manufacturers capable of producing such systems.
Ukrainian officials now say the country has seven manufacturers producing guided bomb systems, compared to none when the initiative was first introduced.
“This task was set in 2024. We did not have any such manufacturers in the country. Now there are already seven. They already know how to do it,” said Lebedenko.
He also confirmed that Ukraine already operates aircraft capable of launching domestically produced weapons, while expanding production capacity has become the next priority for the defense industry.
According to Ukrainian officials, the program has also created a growing community of engineers capable of designing slide kits and propulsion systems for increasingly sophisticated aerial munitions.
“Also, a school of specialists and engineers has emerged who know how to make sliding systems. They know how to make them with engines,” Lebedenko said.
Some of the latest variants are no longer limited to glide after release because turbojet engines continue to propel the bombs towards military targets at greater ranges.
Native bomb designs are moving beyond conversion kits
In addition to upgrading legacy munitions, Ukraine has also developed entirely indigenous guided aerial bombs, expanding the country’s domestic precision strike capability.
Ukraine’s Brave1 defense innovation platform announced the country’s first indigenous guided aerial bomb after approximately 17 months of development.
The weapon carries a 250-kilogram warhead designed to hit fortified positions, command centers and other military targets located tens of kilometers away.
Developers have described the weapon as an entirely original Ukrainian design rather than an adaptation of an existing foreign guided bomb.
Ukrainian military officials have also indicated that improving strike accuracy remains more important than producing greater numbers of guided bombs for operational use.
“We look toward precision so that we can effectively destroy enemy command posts, drone control centers, infrastructure and other targets,” Lebedenko said.
Ukraine has also revealed expanding production capacity, growing engineering expertise and a longer operational range for its guided-bombing program.
However, independent verification of battlefield performance remains limited because operational details of combat employment have not been made public.
Via United24Media
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