Ahmad Hassoun, a top religious official under Bashar al-Assad’s former regime in Syria, has been sentenced to life in prison. Known as the ‘barrel bomb mufti’, Hassoun was found guilty of committing war crimes during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.
Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026
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Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
As its defense against Russia grinds on and with the future of foreign military assistance never assured, Ukraine is ramping up procurement of its new, domestically produced “Equalizer” aerial glide bomb, according to the Ukrainian military. Brave1, the Ukrainian defense technology incubator, on Tuesday provided us with some new details about this weapon, which extends the range and accuracy of so-called dumb bombs by adding guidance kits and pop-out wings.
Also known by its Ukrainian name “Vyrivniuvach,” this bomb first broke cover in May, which you can read more about in our initial story on the topic here. It was developed by the Ukrainian company DG Industry with the Brave1’s support.
While glide bombs have been used to great effect by both sides, Kyiv has had to rely on donated weapons like the U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range munition (JDAM-ER) and the French-made AASM-250 Hammer bomb. The Ukrainian Air Force also makes extensive use of the U.S.-supplied Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), which is smaller and also has pop-out wings.
The Ukrainian Air Force began launching JDAM-ERs in March 2023 and SDBs that November, though the use of the latter wasn’t officially confirmed until May 2024. The weapons became critical for striking Russian targets over the front lines because they allowed Ukrainian jets to release them from standoff distances and better avoid Russian air defenses.
Russia, meanwhile, produced its own crude glide bomb earlier in the war and it has become a highly problematic and deadly threat for Ukraine to contend with since. Now Ukraine is building its own.
As we noted in our earlier piece, the weapon had cleared trials and is ready for combat, giving Ukraine a domestically produced standoff munition that could augment its current arsenal of donated ones and provide a more secure supply chain given the uncertain nature of foreign assistance. One of our outstanding questions at the time was whether the Equalizer would have independent propulsion, a modification that provides this class of munition with a significant boost in range beyond the “dozens of kilometers,” Brave1 claims it can reach. By comparison, the stated JDAM-ER range is more definitive, able to hit targets about 45 miles away.
Russia last year introduced a small turbojet engine to its glide bombs, with claims that this has boosted range to at least 60 miles. Ukraine says it is developing that capability as well, with the goal of reaching targets as far as 125 miles away.
It’s worth noting that Ukraine’s French-supplied Hammer precision-guided bombs also feature a rocket booster. This feature is of unique utility for Ukraine, which often slings its glide bombs via pop-up launch profiles from low level executed by its fighter and attack aircraft. This is due to the extremely heavy air defenses near the front lines.
You can see a Ukrainian MiG-29 launch two Hammers in the following video.
A video of the moment of release of two French-supplied AASM-250 Hammer guided bombs from a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet.
The pilot of this particular airframe, 27-year-old Captain Oleksandr Myhulia, perished while performing a combat mission on August 12, 2024.… pic.twitter.com/yNEbbaFUPt
— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) August 14, 2024
The Equalizer “has no motor,” Brave1 spokesman Yurii Voronkov told us.
“A major challenge was the lack of an engine, as navigation and control rely entirely on the bomb’s own inertia and aerodynamics,” he explained. “Naturally, this demands precise calculations, structural balancing, and extensive testing.”
“The main difficulty lay in combining several critical factors: speed, high g-forces, and aircraft integration,” the Brave1 spokesman added. “This is precisely the type of system where even millimeters are critical, and choosing the right components directly impacts the structure’s effectiveness and resilience.”
“The weapon was designed with high-precision targeting and compatibility with current Ukrainian aircraft and systems,” Voronkov stated. While designed for Ukrainian Su-24, Su-27, and MiG-29 jets, it can also be used with donated F-16 and Mirage fighters, though it “has to receive additional certification for usage on F-16s and Mirages.”
Ukraine had no guided aerial bomb. Now it does.
DG Industry, a Brave1 participant, has completed all required trials and declared the weapon ready for combat after 17 month of development. The bomb carries a 250 kg warhead, hits targets dozens of kilometers behind enemy lines,… pic.twitter.com/EXP0PiLOHl
— BRAVE1 (@BRAVE1ua) May 18, 2026
“The bomb also has modern guidance algorithms that promote better targeting and accuracy,” he noted, without providing additional details.
“Structurally speaking, the product differs from both Russian and foreign counterparts,” Voronkov added. “During development, the developers researched existing systems, incorporating real combat experience and feedback from the military. As a result, the product integrates all the advantages of existing solutions while addressing their shortcomings.”
Voronkov declined to elaborate, but highlighted that “everything—from the wings to the flight controller software—was developed in Ukraine, with the exception of the chips and microcircuits. In terms of the component base, approximately 90% consists of Ukrainian, European, and American parts. Overall, the company managed to avoid critical dependence on foreign components.”
Ukraine began developing the Equalizer two years ago over concerns about the future flow of arms into the country, Voronkov said. Given that with the war dragging on, the U.S. has stopped donating weapons to Ukraine and other nations, like the Netherlands, have as well, it was not an academic exercise.
“In 2024, a team of developers asked themselves a practical question: what happens if foreign arms supplies stop?” Voronokov proffered. “Ukraine needed its own capabilities to help its military carry out combat missions independently. That marked the beginning of their mission to develop a domestic guided aerial bomb.”
“By May 2025, following a series of successful tests, the team proved the concept was viable and decided to move forward,” the Brave1 spokesman added. “They transitioned to producing the initial prototypes and scaling up manufacturing. Naturally, it was a gradual process—the team continued refining the product and fine-tuning specific technical solutions, work that remains ongoing to this day.”
“Brave1 supported this project from its inception in 2024,” Voronkov stated. “We aim to back innovations right from the start because it gives teams a real shot at success. We recognized the chance that the project would reach completion and prove its capabilities quickly, but we were equally aware it might take much longer. In the end, going from concept to the first working prototype took 17 months.”
DG Industry is one of “at least eight manufacturers working on glide bombs altogether,” Voronkov noted.
“The guided aerial bomb itself isn’t just a single product—it represents a technology that has now emerged in our country,” Yaroslav Vinnytskyi, Head of Defense Technologies at Brave1, told us. “It will continue to evolve, and its application can be scaled across various types and sizes. Mastering this technology is a major milestone, providing additional capabilities for both manufacturers and the armed forces.”
Beyond seeking supply independence, by developing its own weapons like Equalizer, Ukraine won’t have to worry about preclusions placed on their use by foreign donors, something that happened with several weapons systems, though the limits ebbed and flowed.
As we noted earlier in this story, the Equalizer “is already being officially purchased for supply to the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn, head of the Central Department of Innovation Activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told the Ukrainian Ukrinform media outlet.
📌 The Ukrainian guided aerial bomb Vyrivniuvach (also known as Equaliser or Leveller) has already completed testing and is officially being procured for use by the Ukrainian Air Force.https://t.co/BPFH8XCzRA
— Militarnyi (@militarnyi) August 18, 2026
Voloshyn noted that Russia has increased its daily use of glide bombs from about 180 last year to more than 300 this year. It remains unknown when the Equalizer will arrive on the battlefield for Ukraine at scale, or when the other options will either.
Given what these weapons can bring to the table if they truly work as advertised, for Kyiv they cannot come soon enough.
Contact the author: howard@twz.com
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a peace deal between the US and Iran.
Oman is currently negotiating with Iran over the reopening of the critical Strait of Hormuz, while Iran has repeatedly stated that it will not speak directly to the US.
On Monday, as Iranian officials said they were close to announcing an agreement with Oman, a 60-day Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Washington and Tehran – which had provided for a period of peace talks but largely fell apart early on – expired with little hope for renewal.
This is not the first time Trump has threatened Oman, a US ally which has never entered into any direct conflict with the US. Oman, through whose territorial waters the contested Strait of Hormuz also flows, has positioned itself as a neutral party in the US-Iran war. Despite that, it has suffered a number of strikes by Iran, which has targeted US military assets and infrastructure around the region in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.
Now, Trump is threatening to strike it as well.
Here is more about what Trump has threatened, and why.
Trump told US broadcaster Fox News on Monday that Iran should surrender, and claimed that his administration had opened a direct backchannel for talks with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
During the interview, he threatened to bomb US ally Oman if it “gets in the way” of US talks with Iran.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s*** out of them,” he said.
An IRGC spokesman denied Trump’s claim of direct talks, telling Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News: “There are no talks taking place between IRGC officials and the Americans, and this lie by Trump is merely fantasies caused by the delusions and nightmares he has suffered as a result of defeat and desperation in the war.”
Monday was not the first time Trump threatened Oman over the course of the five-month war between the US and Iran. In May, he made a similar threat.
At a cabinet meeting on May 27, a reporter asked Trump what he thought about the idea of Oman and Iran jointly overseeing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“ Would you accept a short-term deal that allows Iran and Oman to control the strait?” the reporter asked.
Trump replied with a seemingly offhand threat. “Nobody is going to control it. It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”
While there was initial speculation that Trump might have misspoken and said “Oman” instead of “Iran”, the US State Department later shared the comment on social media, with a transcript of the quote that referred to the Arab country.
For the past few weeks, Iran and Oman have been engaged in direct talks, facilitated by mediators in Qatar, to reach an agreement over how to manage maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in the future.
While Iran had agreed to keep the strait open to shipping without charge for 60 days following the signing of the MoU with the US on June 17, this quickly fell apart as the two sides disagreed over who had ultimate control over the strait – in particular which routes ships should take. Towards the end of June, Iran launched strikes on a number of ships which had followed an Oman-issued route, approved by the US, rather than its own route, and the US restarted strikes on Iran for nearly two weeks.
Following that, Iran refused to talk directly to the US, saying it had violated the terms of the MoU which included a cessation of hostilities on all fronts, and began talks with Oman over the future of the strait instead. Iran also issued a list of new demands relating to the lifting of sanctions and a permanent end to US strikes before it would resume talks, it said.
On Monday, Tehran said the two countries have reached an agreement on a new shipping route in the strait and are now preparing a joint declaration.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the proposed mechanism for control of the strait seeks to protect the interests of both Iran and Oman while allowing commercial shipping to pass through.
“This is the first time that a mechanism is being developed to simultaneously safeguard the sovereign rights of the two littoral states and ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels,” said Baghaei.
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies were shipped before the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28. Roughly 130 ships sailed through the strait each day.
Iran closed the strait in early March, allowing only a few ships it deemed “friendly” to pass through the strait until it signed the MoU with the US on June 17. Since then, it has become the key issue holding up talks for a lasting peace plan to end the war on Iran.
The US, meanwhile, has established its own blockade on Iranian ports in and around the strait. Last week, it fired on a Panama-flagged cargo vessel it accused of attempting to reach Iranian ports and which, it said, had failed to follow orders to change course.
The crisis has triggered global energy shortages and the price of oil has soared. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, was about $66 a barrel just before the Middle East conflict began. Over the course of the war, the price has surged past $100 on several occasions, most recently on July 23. In March, the price rose as high as $119.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures rose to $91.22 a barrel on Tuesday, inching close to a three-week high.
Oman, which is known for its neutrality, has not publicly stated that it intends to join Iran in controlling the Strait of Hormuz. The US and Oman are close partners with a relationship stretching back nearly 200 years.
The two countries have multiple cooperation treaties, including security partnerships, a free trade agreement and a science and technology deal.
During the war, Iran launched multiple strikes on US military assets and energy infrastructure in neighbouring countries, including Oman.
Oman previously acted as a key mediator between Washington and Tehran as they sought a resolution to the war that began on February 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
A potential Iran-Oman understanding covering the Strait of Hormuz could cut against one of Washington’s core demands: that Iran relinquish control of the strait as a condition of ending the war. Rather than curbing that control, such a deal would lend it greater legitimacy by formalising Iran’s position.
But experts say Trump is also likely angry that the US has seemingly been cut out of the deal relating to the strait.
“In part, a solution mediated without US intervention and which in fact allows Oman and Iran to manage passage through Hormuz, which lies entirely within the two countries’ territorial waters, would show how impotent the United States is and has been,” Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf studies at the University of Exeter, told Al Jazeera.
The US and Iran have also strongly disagreed about whether Iran should be allowed to charge fees to shipping companies using the strait. Under international law, tolls for passing through natural waterways such as Hormuz are forbidden, even when they are not technically in international waters. However, fees for services such as insurance, environmental protection and docking can be charged. It has yet to be seen whether this issue will be addressed in an Iran-Oman agreement.
In late July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Iran should not be allowed to charge tolls on vessels traversing Hormuz. Days earlier, Trump himself pledged there would be no tolls for passage through the strait, unless they are collected by his own country.
On August 14, Trump went a step further, telling his supporters in New York that he had plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory” of the US. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump said.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, responded to that threat on social media with defiance.
“Trump said that, after Iran’s defeat, he will soon declare the Strait of Hormuz as American territory,” Gharibabadi wrote.
“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be taken over by a tweet, nor by an aircraft carrier, nor by issuing a decree, nor by an election speech. Iran is neither afraid of threats nor intimidated by a show of force.”
Aug. 17 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Monday to bomb Oman if the nation’s leaders get “in the way of” any potential Iran deal with the United States.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the [expletive] out of them,” Trump told Fox News.
Oman is not part of the U.S. conflict with Iran, but Omani negotiators have been speaking with Iran over a deal between the two Middle Eastern nations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said Monday that Oman and Iran had reached an understanding about a map of the transit route in the waterway. About a third of the world’s crude oil passes through the strait.
Iranian officials have previously said that they’ll reopen the strait only after the United States ends its naval blockade of Iran’s ports and stops attacking Iran. They’ve also requested the end of sanctions and compensation for damage from the attacks.
A two-month window to negotiate peace with Iran, established in the June “memorandum of understanding” between the United States and Iran, officially ended Monday with no progress. The two countries have also strikes for more than a month despite the agreement. Trump told Fox News on Monday that he is “in no hurry” to reach a permanent deal.
“I have no time schedule,” Trump said. The president has repeatedly said that the conflict will end “soon” and promised imminent peace deals that haven’t come to fruition. He also said in the interview that Iran should “put up the white flag of surrender” and denied reports that the United States munitions have been depleted.
Trump previously threatened to “blow up” Oman in May during a Cabinet meeting. On Friday, he threatened to make the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the United States.”
