Ukraine's Su-24 Bombers Are Just Waiting For Better Bombs

A new precision glide bomb could push the Su-24s to the forefront of the Ukrainian air campaign

Ukraine’s small fleet of Sukhoi Su-24 bombers might get a lot busier.

As Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 51st month, the swing-wing Su-24s only rarely appear in the contested sky. And when they do, it’s usually to launch British- and French-supplied cruise missiles at targets deep inside occupied Ukraine or adjacent Russian oblasts.

That could change, and soon. Brave1, the Ukrainian government’s military technology wing, has developed a new precision glide bomb. Where the Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG cruise missiles are expensive and few in number, the Ukrainian glide bomb should be cheap and abundant.

If the supersonic, two-person Su-24 is the primary carrier of the approximately 25-mile-range munition, as seems likely, the dozen or more Su-24s in active service with the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade based in western Ukraine could, as a fleet, conceivably fly multiple daily sorties. Trying to match Russia’s own 100-munitions-a-day glide-bombing campaign.

On Monday, Brave1 released new footage of the all-Ukrainian glide bomb in flight testing. In the footage, an Su-24 drops one of the winged bombs. We previously saw footage of an Su-24 captive-carrying the new munition during a test flight in 2024.

It took 17 months of development, but the winged, satellite-guided bomb “is ready for combat deployment,” Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced. “Pilots are currently rehearsing combat scenarios and adapting the new weapon system for use in real wartime conditions.”