DEVIRO’s "Bulava" becomes even deadlier: what has changed and is there limit to drone development
Drone Industry
Drone manufacturer DEVIRO has unveiled an upgraded version of its reconnaissance and strike system "Bulava" at the Brave1 Defense Tech Valley 2025 event in Lviv.
Denys Chumachenko, the company’s technical director, told Censor.NET that the "Bulava" is constantly being refined in response to user requests for upgrades.
"I always say that this war is highly dynamic. If you fail to keep up with the military’s demands, your product will be of no use to anyone," he emphasized.
A year ago, DEVIRO began the active combat deployment of the "Bulava" with a range of 55 km. At the time, that met operational needs, the company representative explained.
However, within months, requests emerged to extend the range, particularly due to the expansion of the grey zone. DEVIRO began working on this task and ultimately achieved results: the "Bulava" can now operate reliably at a distance of 100 km.
"At around 100 km we didn’t have enough endurance from the Leleka. At that time it could reliably stay airborne for three hours, and that wasn’t enough. So we had to extend the Leleka’s flight time. Now it can reliably fly for five hours. That allows the pair, the new Leleka and the new Bulava, to engage targets out to 100 km. And there are already many such targets," Chumachenko said.
According to DEVIRO’s technical director, the company continually receives requests from the military to optimise warheads.
"In my view, there is no universal warhead. A warhead must be tailored to the target, and only during operational use can you understand what is needed to defeat specific targets. Crews differ, targets differ, requirements differ — so we expanded our warhead lineup. We now have thermobaric, high-explosive, shaped-charge, fragmentation, and pure shaped-charge options. At one point, we realised crews wanted to attack larger, more substantial targets, so they needed a more powerful warhead with greater energy. As a result, there is now a Bulava fitted with a five-kilogram warhead. It has larger wings, a bigger battery pack and also reliably reaches a range of 100 km," Denys Chumachenko noted.
Over time, market forces push the boundaries of drone development
When it comes to the evolution of the drone industry, you often hear about artificial intelligence. However, according to DEVIRO’s technical director, that notion is very blurred.
"Everyone’s grown used to the idea that artificial intelligence is a kind of wizard that will do the entire job for you. For now, in unmanned platforms, what people call ‘AI’ is usually some form of computer vision or an auto-target identification technology. To say this is already artificial intelligence that will do everything by itself is probably premature. The Ukrainian army currently has many skilled users but lacks sufficient means. Pursuing automation at all costs, when you have highly qualified operators, is likely unnecessary. It’s better to give such users more options and avenues of employment," Chumachenko explained.
He added that Ukrainian manufacturers can develop almost any type of UAV very quickly. The more complex questions are the payload and the software.
"All have gotten used to the classic payload — a day camera, a night camera. In reality, that’s just a sensor. The future lies in integrating different types of sensors that will provide options for military UAV employment. For example, radar scanners so crews can see the vector from which an enemy ASCS (air-space control system - ed.) is currently operating while they are flying. It might also include acoustic sensors. Deep strikes that go far in can be tracked by a mobile firing unit because they make a loud noise. They dispense small munitions from the warhead, which are guided by an acoustic sensor, then strike either the enemy mobile firing unit or detonate nearby to disrupt the enemy and allow the deep strike to continue," Denys Chumachenko said.
DEVIRO’s technical director added that drone development eventually runs up against physical limits.
"At some point we bump into the technology. For example, batteries. For a long time everyone said 3.5–4 hours was the limit for the mid-size UAV class. Then an American company, Amprius, came along and said, ‘instead of 250 Wh/kg we can deliver 340 Wh/kg,’ and suddenly six-hour flights became possible. We were constrained at one stage by cell energy density. The market rolled out a new technology and UAVs took a leap.
The same goes for motors. If someone comes up with a higher-efficiency motor, we’ll improve again."If there’s a breakthrough in radio-physics, we’ll be able to operate more reliably at lower altitude and use surface-skimming signals. In other words, we constantly hit certain limits and when the tech market produces solutions, UAVs adopt and integrate them," Denys Chumachenko concluded.
About the DEVIRO company
DEVIRO has been developing, designing and manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles and related software since 2014. Production volumes have increased tenfold since the start of the full-scale war, placing DEVIRO among the top three European drone manufacturers. By the end of this year, the company plans to double production again and expand it by a further 50% at the beginning of next year.
