BlueBird Tech starts partnership with leading scientific and design bureau to serially produce Ukrainian guided aerial bombs

Jun 1, 2026 - 14:10
BlueBird Tech starts partnership with leading scientific and design bureau to serially produce Ukrainian guided aerial bombs

Ukrainian KAB released from a pylon on a Su-24M bomber during testing in June 2025. Source: Defense Express

The Ukrainian defense-tech company BlueBird Tech has announced a partnership with a leading Ukrainian scientific and design bureau to develop and serially produce domestic guided aerial bombs. They are also known by the acronym KAB. 

The move makes BlueBird Tech at least the second known Ukrainian company to enter serial KAB production, after DG Industry, which on 18 May declared Ukraine's first domestically built guided glide bomb combat-ready following 17 months of development.

The team, which BlueBird Tech said has already moved into the first engineering tasks, brings together top Ukrainian rocket-engineering specialists.

The expansion is part of Ukraine's broader push to reduce dependence on scarce Western precision munitions such as JDAM-ER kits, Storm Shadow, SCALP-EG, ATACMS, and to scale its own arsenal against a Russian KAB barrage measured in thousands per week.

Russia uses hundreds of KABs daily. Ukraine must respond

"Every day Russia uses hundreds of guided aerial bombs. Ukraine has to respond no less effectively. We see great demand for such systems and understand how important they are for modern warfare," BlueBird Tech said in its announcement.

The figure tracks Ukrainian government data: in his weekly statement on 31 May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russian forces had launched 1,560 KABs at Ukrainian positions and rear infrastructure over the previous seven days.

DG Industry milestone, and what comes next

DG Industry's KAB carries a 250-kilogram warhead, can strike dozens of kilometers behind the front, and costs roughly a third as much as the American JDAM-ER kit.

Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov framed the domestic bomb as part of Ukraine's shift "from importing individual solutions to creating its own high-tech weapons."

BlueBird Tech's announcement signals that Ukraine is moving toward multiple domestic suppliers rather than a single one.

Growing portfolio

BlueBird Tech, founded in 2024 and led by co-founder and CEO Valerii Zarubin, is best known for its Zhakh (Fear) FPV drone line, Chuika drone detectors, and Vishchun communication relays, according to Ukrainska Pravda. 

In April 2026, the company announced a missile division focused on air-defense interceptors against Russian drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

In May 2026, BlueBird Tech was selected to join the Pentagon's Drone Dominance Program with its US partner Zaruba, Kyiv Post noted.