Modernized Bulava Increased Its Flight Radius to 100 Kilometers

The Ukrainian loitering munition Bulava will fly twice as far and carry a more powerful warhead to hit important targets behind enemy lines.

DeViRo developers told Militarnyi about this at the Defense Tech Valley 2025 exhibition.

The latest modernization cycle has transformed Bulava from a tactical strike drone operating within a 55-kilometer radius into a platform with an operating range of more than 100 km and a guaranteed flight time of 75 minutes.

The updated drone is actually a new generation, which differs from previous versions by having wings lengthened by 7 centimeters and a new 5-kilogram warhead .

“A 3.6 kg warhead can disable, damage, and sometimes destroy a target, but the increased weight allows us to multiply the chance that a second strike will not be needed,” says Denys Chumachenko, CTO of DeViro.

However, drones with a smaller warhead remain in mass production, and the 5-kilogram version will be available only on a special order from units.

The developers note that there are already seven types of warheads in both weight categories (fragmentation, thermobaric, cumulative, etc.), but they are not interchangeable, as the principle of using X-shaped drones requires precise weight centering.

“Combat parts are not interchangeable in terms of weight and centering as the replacement in the field is often impossible. Therefore, the final fit and confirmation of compatibility is carried out at the factory. At the ordering stage, the military can form a set of, for example, 5 thermobars and 10 fragmentation bars, and receive them as a set,” the developers say.

A ‘night’ optical station with a thermal imaging channel has also been developed for the updated drone, due to the increasingly active movement of enemy vehicles at night.

Bulava is being localized: manufacturers have started using Ukrainian-made engines and have almost abandoned the purchase of off-the-shelf controllers – their production was established by the DeViRo development department. There are also plans to switch to Ukrainian telemetry devices in the near future.

Leleka-100 is being modernized after Bulava

At the same time, the Leleka-100M2R reconnaissance-repeater, which searches for targets for Bulava and provides long-range communication, has been improved. The range of the updated drone was increased from three to five hours.

The optical module has been seriously redesigned, with a multi-sensor platform with fixed lenses instead of a motorized lens. This eliminated focus issues after hard landings, significantly improved stabilization, and thus yielded better image quality.

“We’ve done a lot of revision work. There used to be memes about a shaking cat and everyone wrote “this is a Leleka-100” [referring to poor camera stabilization]. Now this is not the case, everyone can apply for a software update,” the company says.

An important factor in the efficiency of drones is their cost. The company does not disclose the figures, but notes that the modernization of the products did not increase their price for the customer.

Currently, the company’s production capacity is almost full due to contracts from foreign customers in the interests of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. The DeViRo representatives said that they received 70-80 records with confirmed combat use every month.