Tu-143 Reis at MAKS, Zhukovskiy, 1997. Photo by Wikimedia user “Jno”.
Russian air defenses had shot down a Ukrainian Tu-143 Reis drone, Igor Konashenkoc, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, announced on April 15.
“Russian air defense systems downed a Ukrainian Tu-143 Reis unmanned aerial vehicle near the settlement of Oktyabrsky,” the spokesman said without providing any further details.
The Tu-143 is a Soviet-made tactical reconnaissance with low-level flight capability that was first introduced in 1976. The drone is truck-launched with a rocket booster, recovered by parachute, and powered by a TR3-117 turbojet. It has a maximum speed of 950 kilometers an hour, a range of 200 kilometers and a service ceiling of 5,000 meters.
The initial version of the Tu-143 carried film cameras, but later versions carried a TV or radiation detection payload, with data relayed to a ground station over a datalink.
The Tu-143 is thought to be a scaled-down version of the larger Tu-141 Strizh drone, which has a range of up to 1,000 kilometers.
This was the second Ukrainian Tu-143 to be shot down by the Russian military. On April 11, a drone of this type was shot down by Russian air defenses. Back then, Russian sources shared photos of the wreckage.
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The wreckage of a 🇺🇦 Ukrainian UAV shot down by Russian forces🇷🇺yesterday.
Apparently, an old Soviet Tu-143 pic.twitter.com/HkYaZXIRK6— Jesus Roman (@jesusfroman) April 12, 2022
The Russian military also shot down two Ukrainian Tu-141 drones, one on March 8 and another on March 13. A third Ukraine drone of this type crashed in Croatia on March 11.
According to the latest briefing by the Russian MoD, Russian air defenses have shot down 133 Ukrainian warplanes, 105 helicopters and 458 drones since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine. Despite these losses, Ukrainian forces are still attempting to use drones in reconnaissance and combat missions.
