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the israel defense forces have recently continued to conduct large-scale air strikes against hezbollah in lebanon. recently, during these operations, the israeli military discovered and successfully destroyed a new type of cruise missile that had never been exposed before for the first time. the missile is temporarily designated dr-3 by the israel defense forces.

the picture shows the thermal imaging footage of the dr-3 cruise missile taken by an israeli drone

according to the thermal imaging video released by the israeli army, a cruise missile and launcher can be seen in a one-story building similar to a house or garage. although the shooting quality is not ideal, the front profile of the missile can still be seen.

the israel defense forces considered the target extremely dangerous and used suicide drones to launch strikes. although the results of the strike were not shown, it can be speculated that the cruise missile inside the building was fatally damaged.

the israeli military press department claimed that the dr-3 missile launcher was placed in a lebanese house near the border. the israeli military also said that placing weapons in civilian homes has become a common practice for hezbollah. to this end, the israel defense forces calls on lebanese civilians not to cooperate with hezbollah and to keep a safe distance from it.

in the video released by the israel defense forces, only the front part of the dr-3 missile can be seen. in addition, although the video was shot in infrared and the picture quality is not high, some foreign experts have speculated based on the fairing of the missile that hezbollah's new missile is based on the heavy-duty uav tu-143 developed by the soviet union. the uav has a cruising speed of 950 kilometers per hour; an effective flight distance of 180 kilometers; a maximum flight time of 13 minutes; and a practical flight altitude limited to 1,000 meters.

although the original configuration of this heavy-duty reconnaissance drone developed in the 1970s has long been outdated, and many existing more convenient and efficient drones have better performance, some countries are still trying to return these drones with new uses. battlefield.

the most important way is to replace the reconnaissance module with a warhead, design corresponding flight procedures, and convert the uav into a cruise missile.

the picture shows the tu-143 heavy reconnaissance drone developed during the soviet period

during the russia-ukraine conflict, ukraine developed a large number of attack-type tu-143s, which were used many times to attack frontline russian targets. ukraine does not lack the r&d and manufacturing technology for this aircraft type. after all, during the soviet period, the tu-143’s predecessor, the tu-141, was produced in ukraine.

however, this old drone is easily captured by the russian air defense system due to its large size, and there are few cases of successfully hitting the target. therefore, the ukrainian army is currently shifting its focus to the development of small fpvs and medium and large long-range drones.

the tu-143 drone has not been officially exported to lebanon. so how did hezbollah obtain this type of drone or related technology? from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, the soviet union produced a total of about 950 uavs of this type. at that time, it was mainly equipped with the soviet air force. after the disintegration of the soviet union, in addition to the previous joining countries, russia also exported to some friendly countries including the middle east.

in the early 1980s, iraq and syria purchased tu-143 uavs. it is unclear whether iraq still possesses this equipment. some of it may have been consumed during the iran-iraq war, and the rest has long been destroyed or scrapped.

if syria, based on its military and political interests, transfers this batch of tu-143 drones in stock to hezbollah to fight against israel, this possibility is very high. there are only doubts about the actual delivery status, quantity and time of drones. it is also unclear where and how the reconnaissance drones were converted into cruise missiles.