| Tu-141 Strizh | |
|---|---|
 Tu-141 Strizh atCentral Air Force Museum, Monino, Russia | |
| General information | |
| Type | Remotely-controlled, UAV |
| Manufacturer | Tupolev |
| Status | Active with theUkrainian armed forces[1][2] |
| Primary users | Ukraine Soviet Union (formerly) |
| Number built | 152[3][4] |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1979–1989 |
| Introduction date | 1979 |
| First flight | 1974 |
| Developed from | Tupolev Tu-123 |
| Developed into | Tupolev Tu-143 |
TheTupolev Tu-141 Strizh ("Swift";Russian:Туполев Ту-141 Стриж) is aSovietreconnaissancedrone that served with theSoviet Army during the late 1970s and 1980s, as well as theUkrainian Armed Forces since 2014.[1][2]
The Tu-141 was a follow-on to theTupolev Tu-123 and is a relatively large, medium-range reconnaissance drone. It is designed to undertake reconnaissance missions within a 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) radius, flying attransonic speeds. It can carry a range of payloads, including film cameras,infrared imagers, EO imagers, andimaging radar.[citation needed].
As with previous Tupolev designs, it has a dart-like rear-mounted delta wing, forward-mountedcanards, and a KR-17Aturbojet engine mounted above the tail. It is launched from a trailer using a solid-propellant booster and lands with the aid of a tail-mounted parachute.
The Tu-141 was in Soviet service from 1979 to 1989, mostly on the western borders of the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
It was pressed back into service by theUkrainian Air Force after 2014 for thewar in Donbas.[1][2]
On 8 March 2022, a Tu-141 reconnaissance drone was reported crashed in Ukraine.[5]
About midnight on 10 March 2022, a Tu-141crashed in front of a student campus inZagreb,Croatia, over 550 kilometres (340 mi) from Ukraine.[6][7] Before it crashed, it had flown overRomania andHungary.[8] There were no casualties. The Ukrainian Air Force claimed that the drone did not belong to them.[9][10] The Russian Embassy in Zagreb stated that Russian forces had not had such drones in their arsenal since thecollapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.[11] The Croatian president,Zoran Milanović, said it was clear the drone came from the direction of Ukraine, entering Croatia after flying over Hungary.[12] On 15 March, an undisclosed source close to the ministry of defence of Croatia was cited in the Croatian news magazineNacional as saying that the investigation had concluded that the crashed drone belonged to theArmed Forces of Ukraine and carried a bomb that was meant for striking Russia's positions, but the drone had strayed off course and crashed after it ran out of fuel.[13]
On 3 July 2022, the governor of theKursk region wrote on Telegram that "our air defenses shot down two Ukrainian Strizh drones".[14]
On 5 December 2022,explosions were reported at two Russian airbases: the one atEngels-2 reportedly damaged twoTu-95s according to Baza; the other at theDyagilevo military airbase nearRyazan, destroyed a fuel truck, damaged aTu-22M3 and killed three, injuring five.[15] The Russian Ministry of Defense said that Ukraine struck these bases with Soviet-made jet drones, and that the drones were subsequently shot down at low altitude when approaching the air bases. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has not confirmed the information.[16][17]
On 26 December 2022, at midnight, explosions were again reported at Engels-2.Air sirens were reported being heard at the base and surrounding areas. The local governorRoman Busargin reported no damage to "civilian infrastructure". At least two explosions were heard. These explosions have been reported by both the Ukrainian and Russian media. Three people from the “technical staff” have reportedly been killed. According to Russian television, "A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down at low altitude while approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region," Ukrainian and Russian social media accounts reported a number of bombers have been destroyed. However Reuters could not confirm these claims. A modified Tu-141 was used to undertake the attack.[18][19]
On 26 March 2023, Russia stated that it had downed a Tu-141 nearKireyevsk using aPolye-21[20] jamming system, resulting in three casualties and damage to an apartment block.[21]
Data from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Directory: Part 2[22]
General characteristics
Performance
This article contains material that originally came from the web articleUnmanned Aerial Vehicles[usurped] by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.
