Direct proof of use
The strongest public evidence for BONUS in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War comes from two direct-use records. In January 2023, The Armourer's Bench identified photographs shared from the Donetsk region as showing a recovered 155 BONUS submunition marked with French production-related details and 155 mm BONUS markings. The article treated the item as Ukrainian-theater evidence while noting that the photographed submunition had not engaged a target before recovery.
RUSI later documented operational employment in its February 2025 fieldwork report on the third year of the Russo-Ukrainian War. In a comparison between FPV-drone engagements and artillery, RUSI wrote that a Ukrainian fires officer located a maneuvering platoon of Russian tanks with a drone, fired five BONUS shells, and knocked out all three tanks within two minutes.
Sources: Top Attack 155 BONUS In Ukraine, Tactical Developments During the Third Year of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Timeline of documented appearance
Open-source documentation places BONUS in Ukrainian service by early January 2023, when imagery of a recovered submunition was published and analyzed. That evidence established theater presence, but did not itself document a successful strike.
By the 2024 fieldwork period covered in RUSI's February 2025 report, Ukrainian officers described BONUS as an occasional specialized munition rather than a routinely available artillery round. The same report gives the clearest public account of a specific Ukrainian anti-armor engagement with BONUS shells: five rounds fired after drone location of a three-tank Russian platoon.
Sources: Top Attack 155 BONUS In Ukraine, Tactical Developments During the Third Year of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Narrative
In Ukrainian service, BONUS fits the war's artillery-and-drone kill chain: reconnaissance locates armored targets, and a 155 mm gun fires a sensor-fuzed anti-armor projectile rather than a conventional high-explosive shell. BAE Systems describes BONUS as a 155 mm artillery-launched munition that ejects two sensor-fuzed submunitions to search a target footprint, while the manufacturer's public page frames its target set as armored personnel carriers, self-propelled guns, infantry fighting vehicles, and main battle tanks.
The RUSI account shows why such a round matters tactically but also why it should not be overstated in the conflict record. RUSI placed the example inside a broader discussion of Ukrainian artillery scarcity and said units had almost no availability of BONUS shells or other specialized ammunition. The documented role is therefore best described as occasional Ukrainian anti-armor fire support against Russian armored vehicles, not as a common artillery munition across the front.
Sources: Bofors 155mm BONUS munition, Tactical Developments During the Third Year of the Russo-Ukrainian War
