Ukraine officially confirms the use of Tu-141 drones to shoot down nuclear bombers in Russia
At the end of last year, the Engels and Diagilevo military airfields were attacked in Russia. Many months later, Ukraine officially confirmed the use of Soviet UAVs.
After the strike on the airfields, information immediately appeared about the use of Soviet Tu-141 Strizh unmanned aerial vehicles. This has now been officially confirmed by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
Given the lack of weapons that could destroy Russian bombers in the air, Ukraine is looking for other ways to eliminate the threat. One of them is strikes on military bases in Russia where the aircraft are based.
Two Tu-95MS nuclear bombers were severely damaged at the Engels airfield in Saratov region. They are usually used to launch strategic cruise missiles X-101, X-555 and X-55 from the Caspian Sea.
One Tu-95MS was damaged at the Diagilevo airfield in the Ryazan region. Along with it, the Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, which is mainly used to launch X-22M3 anti-ship missiles, was hit. Recently, at least one such aircraft was destroyed by kamikaze drones in the Novgorod region.
As for the Tu-141, it is initially a reconnaissance-level unmanned aerial vehicle. It can climb to a height of 6 km and reach speeds of over 1100 km/h. The drone is equipped with a KR-17A TRD engine, has a gross weight of almost 5.5 tons and a range of 1000 km.
