Soviet-era Stryzh recon drone, modernized by Ukraine, likely behind explosion near Kaluga, experts claim
Ту-141 Stryzh (Photo:defence-ua.com)
The drone that apparenty crashed and exploded recently near the Russian city of Kaluga 150 kilometers southwest of Moscow was very likely a modernized Soviet Tu-141 Stryzh reconnaissance drone, the Ukrainian military outlet Defense Express reported on Feb. 7.
Kaluga Oblast Governor Vladislav Lapsha said on Feb. 6 that an unknown drone crashed near the regional capital city. It was firstly reported that the drone exploded 50 meters above the ground, but lately it was discovered that it had hit the tops of trees and fell.
Photos from the spot show the wreckage to be that of a Tu-141 Stryzh drone with an OFAB-100-120 small aerial bomb onboard, the outlet wrote.
"This incident caused a great deal of anxiety among rushists (Russian terrorists), because this drone with the bomb fell just 150 kilometers away from Moscow and once again, it wasn't spotted by the Russian air defence,” the Defense Express article reads.
“Ultimately, there are a lot of military objects near Kaluga itself, including a rail junction and an airport, though a drone with explosives could have seriously hindered logistic chains of the invaders’ troops."
Stryzh drones fly low so they can't be seen by Russian air defence radar, despite their considerable size.
Soviet-era bombs are being used as a combat load. In the Kaluga's case, it was an OFAB-100-120 bomb with a weight of 123 kilograms and an explosive yield of 46 kilograms of TNT equivalent.
The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, has claimed that Ukraine has weapons capable of striking targets deep inside Russia.
It has been speculated that Ukraine used anther modified Stryzh drone to attack the Engels-2 airbase near Saratov on the Volga River, about 600 kilometers east of the nearest Ukrainian-held territory.
Earlier, Ukraine claimed it had developed and was testing a strike drone with a range of 1,000 kilometers capable of carrying a 75 kilogram warhead.
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