(PatrioticPost.com)- Ukraine launched drones into vital Russian air bases and more details are surfacing about what weapons they actually were, according to the defense and national security website 19FortyFive. The drones were reportedly unmanned Soviet-era relics that were initially designed to be used as photo-reconnaissance crafts during the Cold War.
The Tupolev Tu-141, which is 47 feet long, was converted by Ukraine into an unmanned flying drone that traveled hundreds of miles into Russia to drop bombs on its air force bases. The conversion and drop were reportedly a daring mission by Ukraine as it slipped passed air defenses easily, likely using low flight capability.
The jet-powered Tu-141 is not sophisticated but is now combat-effective as Ukraine remains the only country to operate it. The drone is nicknamed “Strizh,” or “Swift,” and will apparently win no records for speed or stealth. It is loud and buzzes and it passes by, but it did make it past Russia’s air defenses to prove itself in war, despite not being advanced enough to go undetected by radars. It is reportedly launched from a trailer and then recovered by a parachute. It can fly once more if it remains intact after its mission.
The Tu-141 was first used in 1972 up until 1989 by the Soviet Union and has a range of around 650 miles. The Strizh was designed to be a target for drones for training, so it reportedly comes as a surprise that it is now being used as a drone itself in combat.
The Strizh can fly as high as 20,000 feet and has Russian generals worried about what the Ukrainians have in store for them next as they turn cheap military equipment into combat-effective weapons.
Russians report that the drone killed three Russians and damaged two Tu-195 bombers. The country is reportedly looking at its air defenses again after the attack.
