Tupolev Tu-141

The Tupolev Tu-141 Strizh (Swift, Стриж) was a Soviet reconnaissance drone in service with the Soviet Red Army and with a number of its Warsaw Pact and Middle East allies during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Development


The Tu-141 was a follow-on to the Tupolev Tu-123 and was a relatively large, medium-range reconnaissance drone. It was designed to undertake reconnaissance mission at a depth of several hundred kilometers from the front lines at transonic speeds. It could carry a range of payloads, including film cameras, infrared imagers, EO imagers, and imaging radar.

As with previous Tupolev designs, it had a dart-like rear-mounted delta wing, forward-mounted canards, and a KR-17A turbojet engine mounted above the tail. It was launched from a trailer using a solid-propellant booster, and it landed with the aid of a tail-mounted parachute.

The Tu-141 was in Soviet service from 1979–1989, mostly on the western borders of the Soviet Union.