The UJ-26 Bober () is a type of Ukrainian long-range

loitering munition A loitering munition (also known as a suicide droneLoitering Muniti ...

(suicide drone). In December 2022 the

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

account Lachen Pyshe announced a public fundraising campaign called Hovor Khell, for a domestic

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

for Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR). On 11 May 2023 it published photographs and said that it had already been used to accrue losses by Russian forces during the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...

. On 30 May, it was used to conduct a series of drone strikes in suburban Moscow. The drone reportedly has a range of 600 to 1,000 km, and its warhead is a KZ-6 shaped charge. This drone has been used during a number of attacks on Moscow. During July and August 2023 a number of drones struck the

IQ-quarter The IQ-quarter (russian: IQ-квартал, r=IQ-kvartal) is a mixed-use complex composed of two skyscrapers and a high-rise located on plot 11 in the Moscow International Business Center (MIBC) in Moscow, Russia with a total area of . The skys ...

high-rise buildings in Moscow two days in a row. Other attacks occurred in July and May, possibly including the Kremlin drone attack. Other drones have also been identified as being involved. However images appeared on social media in late July matching footage taken from other videos online. The Bober drone appear to have a rear-mounted

pusher propeller In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

and potentially has a sensor package in the nose. The drone was commissioned at the request of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency the

HUR Hur or HUR may refer to: People * Hur (Korean name), also spelled Heo * Hur (Bible), a number of biblical figures * Hur-ul-Nisa Begum, first of the fourteen children of Mumtaz Mahal Places * Hur, Iran (disambiguation), a number of places * ...

, who asked Ihor Lachenkov, in December 2022, for a "drone that can fly very far". His fundraising put some 20 million

hryvnia The or ( ; uk, гривня , : ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 . It is named after a measure of weight used in medieval Kievan Rus'. Name Ety ...

(half a million

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 Currency, currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore d ...

) towards its development. Images were released publicly in July and these images match footage taken by Russians over

Ilyinsky, Moscow Oblast Ilyinsky is an urban-type settlement in Ramensky district of Moscow oblast, Russia, located 17 km southeast from Moscow in a forested area near the town of Zhukovsky on both sides of the Ilyinskaya railway station (Kazan direction). Population: 11, ...

, on 30 May 2023. These drones may be vulnerable to Russian

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

which is often cited as having "suppressed" such drones. However, even if true, the drone will still crash into something with an explosive payload. The emphasis on the use of drones like the Bober go to a comment from the Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

, who said on 30 July 2023 that "gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process". Russian milbloggers have also been critical of the lack of protection against such attacks. On 9 July 2024, Ukrainian Bober drones struck a Russian missile testing facility at

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, materia ...

. Russian officials claimed more than 20 drones were shot down, while one black painted Bober drone crashed landed in a field. Subsequent satellite images showed scorch marks at the facility.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Cite web , date=2023-05-31 , title=Moscow Attack: new details revealed on UAVs used in incident , url=https://mil.in.ua/en/news/moscow-attack-new-details-revealed-on-uavs-used-in-incident/ , access-date=2023-07-30 , website=Militarnyi , language=en-US Loitering munitions Military equipment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine 2020s Ukrainian military aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of Ukraine