On Monday, May 18, 2026, the Ukrainian government defense technology innovation platform and cluster Brave1 announced on social media the development of the first Ukrainian air-launched glide bomb, publishing a video of a test drop from a Su-24M frontline bomber (NATO reporting name: Fencer).
Video: Brave1
“Ukraine has its own guided aerial bomb.
The first Ukrainian guided aerial bomb from Brave1 participant DG Industry has already passed all necessary tests and is ready for combat use.
Development took 17 months. The Ukrainian guided aerial bomb is not an analogue of Western or Soviet solutions; it has a unique design and is adapted as much as possible to the realities of modern warfare. With a 250-kg warhead, it is ready to strike fortifications, command posts and other targets dozens of kilometers deep after launch.
The Ministry of Defense has already purchased the first experimental batch of aerial bombs. As part of this batch, pilots are training to work with the new weapon, practicing combat scenarios and expanding its use.
And its first baptism of fire is already close.
The Ukrainian guided aerial bomb is a weighty argument against the enemy’s advance. We are developing and scaling solutions capable of changing the course of the war.”
Brave1
Glide Bombs in the Ukrainian Arsenal
At present, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or PS ZSU, primarily uses American glide bombs. In March 2023, it was revealed that, as part of US military aid packages for Ukraine during Joe Biden’s presidency, Ukraine had received JDAM-ER kits to convert 227-kg Mark 82 general-purpose bombs into GBU-62 guided bombs. They were adapted and integrated with MiG-29 fighter aircraft (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) and Su-27 heavy air-superiority fighters (NATO reporting name: Flanker) thanks to modified weapon stations with MAU-12 pylons. The first visual confirmation came on August 24, 2023, on the occasion of Ukraine’s Independence Day.
In November 2024, it was revealed that Australia had also supplied JDAM-ER kits to Ukraine. The Australian government had already announced the delivery of unspecified air-launched munitions in April of the same year. In February 2025, it was revealed that medium-weight GBU-63 kits, based on 454-kg Mark 83 bombs, had also entered service with Ukrainian aviation.
It is worth adding that on August 28, 2025, Ukraine received US State Department approval to purchase up to 3,350 new ERAM (Extended Range Attack Munition) precision air-launched weapons in a package worth up to 825 million USD. Five days earlier, The Wall Street Journal had reported on the upcoming approval. Later, the US Department of Defense ordered the first batch of 840 missiles, some of which are to go to Ukraine. The first test of the munition was conducted in the United States on January 21 this year.
In turn, on May 5 this year, the US State Department approved the potential sale of a package with JDAM-ER kits worth up to 373.6 million USD. The package includes 1,200 KMU-572 tail guidance kits for Mark 82 bombs, 227 kg, and 332 KMU-556 kits for Mark 84 bombs, 907 kg.
French AASM Hammer modular guided bombs are also in use, in the Hammer-250 and Hammer-1000 versions, although they have rocket boosters.
What Are the Russians Using?
Meanwhile, the Russians use UMPK unified glide and correction modules, or Unificirovanny modul planirovaniya i korrektsii, fitted to quarter-ton FAB-250/OFAB-250-270 bombs, half-ton FAB-500 M62 (ODAB-500) bombs, 1.5-ton FAB-1500 M54 (ODAB-1500) bombs and 3-ton FAB-3000 M54 bombs, as well as half-ton RBK-500 cluster bombs.
