The Ukrainian Air Forces’ (UAF) outnumbered airmen have tested a new domestically developed bomb that will allow strikes deep into Russia-controlled territory with world-class accuracy, in a possible home-grown alternative to the drip-drip supply of long-range, high-precision bombs Ukraine is now receiving from France and the US.
Video screen grabs published on Tuesday, Sept. 2, by the “X” military research group Status-6 showed a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter aircraft armed with a glide bomb kit that the platform said was the first visual evidence Ukraine had fielded the new weapon – a glide bomb kit fitted to a conventional bomb – in combat.
Images showed the MiG carrying a standard Soviet-era 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) bomb fitted with a glide attachment that, when dropped, sprouted stubby wings, allowing the munition to glide to its target.
The US-based military research group War Zone and other independent analytical platforms on Tuesday confirmed a report of first battle use, and said the effective range of the Ukrainian glide bomb was 60-80 kilometers (37-50 miles).
Visually, the Ukrainian weapon, as shown and described, closely resembled glide bomb kits used in increasing numbers by the Russian air force since early 2024, as a way to hit targets without coming into range of ground-based anti-aircraft missiles.
During Russia’s Summer 2025 offensive, Russian bombers dropped about 1,400 glide bombs a month targeting Ukrainian positions with near impunity, according to Ukraine General Staff reports. The Russian system depends on calculations of inertia and altitude by an on-board computer, as well as the Russian version of GPS, Glonass, to hit a target. The system is not completely reliable and, according to Ukrainian estimates, the Russian air force has accidentally hit Russia’s Belgorod territory with more than 250 errant glide bombs.
Reportedly, the new Ukrainian bomb kit is equipped with GPS and possibly other systems helping it fly to target accurately. The Ukrainian manufacturer, Medoid, in corporate literature said the kit extends the range of a Soviet-standard bomb to 80 kilometers (50 miles) and stated that the system was on track for combat field testing starting September 2025, and for “mass production” starting in December 2025.
The Ukrainian glide bomb project, per company statements, is not sponsored by the government, and development is by private industry investment and grassroots donations. Currently, the estimated cost of a serial model bomb kit is Hr.1,500,000 ($36,000), a Medoid statement said.
Medoid claimed the Ukrainian system is superior to its Russian counterpart in accuracy and resilience to jamming: “The Ukrainian product, despite its visual similarity to Russian UMPKs, is a completely new model of a gliding aviation module equipped with advanced navigation and radio equipment.”
Until the use of the Medoid bomb kit in combat, the only precision-guided bombs dropped by the UAF had been imported. France, in January 2024, began deliveries to Ukraine of its AASM Hammer (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, or Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) precision-guided bombs to Ukraine. Currently, Ukraine receives 50 bombs a month, and production may increase to 70 a month in 2026, official statements from Paris have said.
A first-tier NATO-standard weapon with a rocket booster and an officially listed 70-kilometer (44-mile) stand-off range, the highly accurate Hammer is popular with Ukrainian ground troops, who sometimes call it “The French Baguette.” (Ukrainian: Французький багет). The UAF officially released video often targets buildings thought to contain Russian headquarters or drone operations units with AASM bombs.
The United States, per Pentagon statements starting in 2023, has transferred to Ukraine a similar precision-guided bomb kit with pop-out wings, called a Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER). No fixed rate of delivery or quantities of bombs transferred have been disclosed. Military analysts in Ukraine have estimated delivery volumes at around 100-200 American bomb kits a month.
The kits are designed to upgrade a powerful 250-kilogram or 500-kilogram (550-pound or 1,100-pound) NATO-standard bomb, which also must be sent from a NATO state to Ukraine for the kit to work. The Medoid bomb kit, designed to be fitted to Soviet-standard bombs, would allow Ukraine to access not only thousands of bombs thought to be in domestic depots, but potentially thousands more stored by air forces in former Socialist states now allied with Ukraine, like Bulgaria and Poland.
Ukraine also has received a reported 1,000+ American GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDB), an integrated 113-kilogram (250-pound) munition designed for high accuracy and low(er) collateral damage. Some estimates put the SDB bomb quantity delivered at about 2,000. Ukrainian operators have praised the weapon for good precision and range but reported that Russian jamming reduces its accuracy.
The US State Department in late August approved the sale to NATO for transfer to Ukraine of 3,350 advanced air-dropped weapons (Extended Range Air Munition, or ERAM) with total package delivery planned over a three-year period. The highly advanced munition, as advertised, can hit a target 400 kilometers (249 miles) away within about 10 meters (33 feet), the weapon’s CEP (circular error probable) for at least 50% of weapons employment.
US arms deliveries to Ukraine have been halted three times since Russia’s invasion. The longest US arms embargo on Ukraine to date was from December 2023 to April 2024, during a Trump-directed Congressional block of a House vote on weapons deliveries to Ukraine, opposed by the MAGA faction of Republican voters.
Even were Ukraine to receive increased volumes of foreign- and domestically produced- precision glide-bomb kits, there could still be shortages of aircraft of trained pilots to deliver the munitions.
The UAF’s current fleet inventory, i.e., the number and type of aircraft it has that are operational, is classified information. According to open-source estimates, because of past losses and difficult maintenance of existing planes often older than their pilots, the UAF probably has available around 12-15 Su-27 multi-role fighters (NATO: Flanker) and 20 MiG-29 (NATO: Fulcrum) fighters in a typical day of combat.
The UAF has struggled since Russia’s February 2022 invasion to attack Kremlin ground targets because of a massive Kremlin advantage in ground-based air defense systems along the front lines, and limited supplies of long-range precision-guided bombs.
In 2023, the UAF started to address that disadvantage to a limited extent by jury-rigging Soviet-era fighters designed primarily as defensive counter-aircraft dog fighters into attack aircraft flying at tree-top level and dropping unguided, free-fall munitions. According to air force statements, currently, Ukrainian combat fliers conduct no more than 10 to 15 air strikes daily.
Ukraine also operates a reported 20-25 US-made F-16 fighters and four-to-six French Mirage 2000-5F fighters. Both aircraft are more modern than Ukraine’s Soviet-era Su-27s and MiG-29s, but Ukraine has been using all its fighter aircraft more for air defense than they’ve been used in the ground attack role.
Ukrainian Air Force intelligence has estimated its Russian opponent has deployed around 500 strike and fighter aircraft to support the Kremlin invasion, of which about half are typically flyable, because of maintenance problems and pilot shortages.
Statistics published by Russia’s Defense Ministry estimate that Kremlin forces, since February 2022, have shot down or destroyed about 430 Ukrainian fixed-wing military aircraft. The claim, if accurate, would imply Russia has thus far in the war destroyed Ukraine’s entire air force about three times.