Investing in Defense: Come Back Alive Foundation Unveils “Black Box” Impact in Ukraine

16 November, 2023 Illustrative image of Black Box. Photo credits: Come Back Alive Foundation. The Come Back Alive Foundation has disclosed the content of the Black Box initiative for the needs of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

The Come Back Alive Foundation reports this on its social media accounts. One of the elements of the Black Box was a Bober long-range kamikaze drone, whose attacks Militarnyi has repeatedly reported. For example, on May 30, 2023, the Bober drones attacked Moscow and the Moscow region.

Later, the Bober drones attacked Moscow on July 24, August 1, and possibly August 18 and September 17. "This loitering munition is capable of destroying important enemy military targets at operational, tactical and strategic depths at a distance of up to 800 kilometers. Thanks to this and other means from the Black Box, we have been reducing the enemy's offensive potential," a member of one of the Defence Intelligence special forces units with the call sign 'Kolibri' said about the Bober UAV.

On November 15, 2022, the Come Back Alive Foundation and Ukrainian blogger Ihor Lachenkov launched fundraising for the Black Box project, which aims to reduce the enemy's offensive potential. Without disclosing any details, they managed to accumulate UAH 230 million.

"What's in the Black Box?" We have been hearing this question since the project started, and today, exactly one year after the initiative began, we are ready to answer it. Together with Ihor Lachenkov, we are raising 15,000,000 hryvnias for the soldiers of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine who work directly with the 'box'. As soon as the amount is accumulated, we will partially disclose the contents of the Black Box," the Foundation's press service said on the morning of November 15, 2023.

Ukrainians raised the entire amount needed for the DIU soldiers in just over a day. With this 15 million hryvnias, the Foundation will buy cars with components for a soldier with the callsign "Kolibri" and other soldiers who work with the 'box'. The transport will increase the mobility of the special forces and allow them to fight the invaders more efficiently.

In the first 8 months of 2023, Black Box caused more than £900 million in damage to the enemy, according to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

A long-range drone, probably a Bober drone, over Moscow.

30.05.2023. Russia. Frame from a social media video.

The Bober drone successfully performed missions in Crimea, in other temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and at military facilities on enemy territory.

Read more about Black Box in the article on Militarnyi

For example, it hit an important enterprise of the enemy's military-industrial complex--a plant that produces electronics for missiles such as Kh-31, Kh-35, and Kh-59, which are launched from tactical aircraft.

It also hit a storage facility where Russians stored missile parts for Iskander ballistic missile systems. "In fact, the Black Box is the Foundation's first major investment in Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones," says Taras Chmut, Head of the Come Back Alive Foundation. "Last summer, we purchased 10 UAVs from the manufacturer for UAH 40 million, which were donated by benefactors to our general accounts. When we saw that they were giving good results, we decided to scale the project, launch production, and do public fundraising.

Thanks to the trust in Come Back Alive, we raised UAH 230 million in less than a month. Another UAH 10 million was added from general accounts. The Foundation's team is very happy with the result because, in total, 280 million hryvnias have already caused more than £900 million in damage to the enemy.

This is a tremendous result in reducing the offensive potential of the invasion forces!" On July 30, Militarnyi reported that volunteer Serhiy Prytula demonstrated the Ukrainian-made Bober kamikaze drones. The drone is built under the "duck" aerodynamic scheme, which provides effective pitch control (up and down) without losing lifting power for balancing.

Bober long-range drone.

May 2023. Ukraine. Photo credits Lachen.

Such a layout can help the drone effectively change its altitude to pass air defense zones or to change the target.

As previously reported, the Russians were preparing to counter drones during a naval parade in St.

Petersburg, which is located 860 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.