Defense Express: Archaic Tu-141 Strizh has been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a weapon for strikes against targets near Moscow | PHOTO

Ukrainian Armed Forces use converted Soviet Tu-141 «Strizh» UAVs to strike at military targets on the territory of the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The military portal Defense Express writes about this.

On February 6, the governor of the Kaluga region of the Russian Federation, Vladislav Noodles, said that an unknown drone had fallen near Kaluga itself. At first it was stated that this drone exploded at a height of 50 meters, but then it turned out that this aircraft simply caught on the tops of trees and fell. Photos from the crash site showed that it was the Tu-141 «Strizh», carrying the OFAB-100-120 air bomb.

«In our territories, such news did not cause much enthusiasm — they say, «bavovna» still did not reach the target. But this episode made the rashists especially nervous. Because the drone with the «beautiful» fell just 150 km from Moscow, and the Russian air defense once again missed its span. In the end, there are many military facilities near Kaluga itself, a railway junction and an airport, and a UAV hit with a bomb could significantly damage the logistics of the occupying troops & # 187;, & # 8212; writes Defense Express.

The zone of the territory of the Russian Federation, on which objects of military logistics are piled up and which can be hit by our UAVs with & # 171; bavovnoy & # 187;, illustrative infographics, source & # 8212; twitter profile OSINT analyst Ian Matveev

This message is valuable to us because it points to two things. The first – indeed, the Tu-141 & # 171; Swift & # 187; with «beautiful» they fly at low altitudes, therefore, despite their large size, these aircraft do not see Russian air defense (the Tu-141 has a fuselage length of 8 meters and a wingspan of 3 meters, more than the KR (X-101, for example), the portal notes.

The second – that as a combat unit for & # 171; Strizh & # 187; with «beautiful» not a specially designed BZD is used, but Soviet-style bombs. Specifically, in this case, OFAB-100-120 has a mass of 123 kg and 46 kg of explosives in TNT equivalent, a hit gives a funnel of 5 meters and a scattering of debris by 100 meters. OFAB-100-120 is designed to destroy manpower, equipment in the parking lot or echelons with cargo, and this is exactly what was needed, for example, to destroy the rashist Tu-22M3 or Tu-95MS.

OFAB-100-120, illustrative photo from open sources

«Moreover, if we look at the diagram of the structural structure of the Tu-141 «Strizh» UAV, we will see that reconnaissance equipment, which is already unnecessary for this UAV, is located precisely in the bow. And here we are talking about rather bulky aerial cameras — promising A-86P and panoramic -4/90, the compartment for their location is indicated by the number 10. Accordingly, instead of them, you can & # 171; screw in & # 187; warhead in the form of OFAB-100-120 & # 8243;, & # 8212; the article says.

Landing and braking parachutes, which in theory can also be removed from «Strizh» due to uselessness, in this diagram they are indicated by the numbers 8 and 9. But here the dismantling is simply about removing excess weight so that it does not interfere with the delivery of & # 171; bavovna & # 187; on the heads of the Rashists.

The structural diagram of the structure of the Tu-141 «Strizh», an illustrative image from open sources

The option of an external suspension of an aerial bomb seems to be excluded , because the only thing that is suspended outside is a solid-propellant booster, indicated by the number 14. And it is just needed to launch the drone.

In the public domain there is an image of an A-86P aerial camera, which suddenly turned out to be «unnecessary& #187; someone from Rashists, and they decided to sell it via the Internet. The bulkiness of this camera clearly shows how much «bavovna» can fit in Tu-141 «Strizh».