In the past two years, although Europe and the United States have provided assistance to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it seems that they are no longer so focused on it. Their enthusiasm for Ukraine's request for assistance has also waned. This forced Ukraine to solve the problem on its own. As a result, the country has begun to gradually shift away from relying on imports to developing its own drone technology that has been proven on the battlefield.
According to a report by the American magazine War Zone**, Ukraine's newest jet drone UJ-25 has been put into combat use. Compared with traditional propeller UAVs, the UJ-25 can fly to the target more quickly and has a certain stealth capability, which makes it difficult for Russia to effectively defend.
The U.S. said the UJ-25 had been deployed in combat, and one photo showed the drone in the Zaporizhzhia region of eastern Ukraine, which includes the Russian-controlled city of Beryansk. Beryansk is an important port city on the Sea of Azov, which Ukraine could see as a target for attacking Russian ships and military installations. However, the attack by the UJ-25 drone does not seem to have gone as planned, fortunately the warhead was not detonated and no **man** was created.
The UJ-25 jet drone made its debut on the battlefield and is similar in appearance to the UJ-23, but with improvements and upgrades. The UJ-23 was originally used for simulated training and testing equipment, but after changing the mission module, these UAVs also have a variety of functions such as intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance, so that their role has been significantly improved.
They resemble missiles in appearance, with a forward-swept main wing and V-shaped tail structure, and air intakes are provided at the top of the rear fuselage to supply air to small turbojet engines. In addition, the UJ-25 is equipped with an additional canard wing design at the front end, which provides more lift and longer range. Both UAVs focus on stealth performance, combined with smaller fuselage and stealth signal characteristics, which can better confuse the radar system in actual combat, which is conducive to raid and invasion operations.
Ukraine's UJ-25 UAV made its debut in real combat, which marks an important step forward for the country in the field of drone warfare. The drone has a stealth design that is less common than suicide drones. Although the manufacturer of the UJ-25 did not disclose the model, through speculation and comparison of the performance of the prototype UJ-23, it can be speculated that the difference in performance parameters between the two sides should not be too large.
The UJ-23 drone has a cruising speed of 600 kilometers per hour, a maximum flight speed of about 800 kilometers per hour, and can last up to 90 minutes in the air. The maneuvering options range from manual control via visual links to autonomous flight via pre-programmed routes.
As a successor model, the UJ-25 was supposed to be even more powerful. It is speculated that its range (range) could exceed 800 kilometers and basically cover most of Ukraine and Russia, even extending to deep areas such as Moscow. Ukraine has been trying to carry out long-range attacks in the past, successfully carrying out multiple raids to bomb several airfields and bases of the Russian army, and even harassing Moscow several times. These actions caused significant losses to the Russian Tu-22M and Tu-95 strategic bombers, which, although they did little harm to the general population, put psychological pressure on them.
According to reports, the UJ-25 may have borrowed heavily from the American XQ-58 "Valkyrie" drone in its design. Given the relationship between the United States and Ukraine, this possibility cannot be completely ruled out, and technical guidance may have been provided even if the United States was not directly involved. As a stealthy long-range drone, the UJ-25 is capable of getting closer to targets hundreds of kilometers away more quickly, and even when equipped with a small electronic warfare module, it can act as a decoy to provide escort for the Storm Shadow and Scalp-EG cruise missiles.
The UJ-25 drone will become an effective means of long-range counterattack for Ukraine, which is expected to extend the war into the Russian hinterland. It is worth mentioning that the UJ-25 is not the only new UAV developed independently developed in Ukraine. In addition to drones with long-range high-speed characteristics, the Ukrainian army recently introduced the AQ 400 "Scythe" drone, which flies slowly and has a crude manufacturing process, but costs only $15,000. More UAVs are expected to be put into service in the future, and Ukraine has learned a lot from the conflict in the last two years and is even slightly ahead of Russia in terms of development. For example, Iran's new Shahed-238 jet drone has a similar design and is already in service, while the Russian side may not have introduced or deployed a similar system.