Tupolev Tu-143 Reys

Summary

Description

The Tupolev Tu-143 Reys was a Soviet unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in service with the Soviet Army and a number of its Warsaw Pact and Middle East allies during the late 1970s and 1980s. It was introduced in 1976 and strongly resembled the Tu-141, but was substantially scaled-down. It was a short-range (60–70 kilometer) tactical reconnaissance system and had low-level flight capability. The drone was truck-launched with JATO boosting, recovered by parachute, and powered by a TR3-117 turbojet with 5.8 kN (590 kgf, 1300 lbf) thrust. The initial version carried film cameras, but later versions carried a TV or radiation detection payload, with data relayed to a ground station over a datalink. Some 950 units were produced in the 1970s and 1980s.

During the 1982 Lebanon War, Syria used Tu-143 for reconnaissance missions over Israel and Lebanon. The drone was also used by Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine appeared to use them to spot Russian air defences and as an ersatz cruise missile. On June 29, 2022, one Tu-143 carrying explosives was shot down in Kursk Oblast.

The drone contained a reconnaissance pod that was retrieved after flight, and from which imagery was retrieved. The M-143 variant is a target drone version of the Tu-143 that was introduced in the mid-1980s. The Tu-143 was followed into service in the late 1990s by the similar but improved "Tu-243 Reys-D", with a 25 cm fuselage stretch, to provide greater fuel capacity and about twice the range; it had an uprated TR3-117 engine with 6.28 kN thrust; and improved low-altitude guidance.

Technical specifications

All operators

Bulgaria • Belarus • Czech Republic • Iraq • North Korea • Romania • Russia • Slovakia • Syria • Ukraine • Ex-USSR