Ukraine gave its heavy-bomber drones the ability to hit within a meter. Kyiv has codified FireFly, a domestic terminal-guidance module for heavy-strike drones, and it is already in use with Perun and Vampire bombers, as well as other platforms, Defender Media reports.
FireFly attaches to a munition slung under a bomber drone and steers it after release. Once the operator locks the target and drops the bomb, the module corrects the munition's flight path on its own down to the point of impact.
The developers say it works from release altitudes of 200 to 500 meters and, depending on the platform, altitude, and weather, puts the munition 0.5 to 2 meters from the operator's chosen point.
Heavy bombers do killing FPVs cannot
The module fits munitions weighing 1 to 9 kilograms, the company can build up to 10,000 modules a month, and the system will soon be orderable through the DOT-Chain Defense marketplace.
The module solves the precision half of a problem that Ukraine's heavy bombers already half-solved.
Ukraine's reusable heavy bombers have become the weapon of choice against dug-in Russian positions. Where an FPV carries 1.5 to 5 kilograms and explodes once, a bomber carries tens of kilograms and flies back for more.
A drone battalion officer put the math bluntly: against strong cover, ten FPV strikes may achieve nothing, while one bomber sortie does the job. "Storm a treeline? Better to just take it apart with a Vampire," he said.
The Vampire, built by Skyfall, is Ukraine's best-known heavy bomber, credited with having flown millions of combat missions and used to level positions that Ukraine would once have stormed with infantry.
Precision is front Ukraine keeps pushing on
FireFly fits a wider Ukrainian drive to make cheap munitions land exactly where intended, rather than relying on scarce Western precision weapons.
Ukraine has built the same principle into other systems this year. Its first domestic precision glide bomb, the Vyrivniuvach ("Equalizer"), entered serial production with a 250-kg warhead at roughly a third of the cost of a US JDAM-ER kit.
