The Russian MoD remarked that the US Raytheon engineers had modified Ukrainian Tu-141 drones with improved capabilities. An attack on Russia's Engels and Dyagilevo air bases with these Soviet-designed drones on December 5 and 26.
US Raytheon Modifies Ukrainian Drones
In January, the Ministry of Defense alleged American help to Kyiv by installing a modern navigation system, also a better warhead, report Eurasian Times.
These attacks in December stated Russian experts had assistance and guidance from alleged non-combatants, US and NATO, via their AWACS aircraft.
Attacks on Russian vessels in Crimea's Sevastopol during late October with an unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned surface vehicle strikes, allegedly assisted by the US RQ-4B Global Hawk that used ISR to give targeting information, noted Airforce Technology. Russian bloggers said the US drone over the Black Sea south of Crimea via tracking websites.
Russian MoD Says the Tu-141 Strizh Updated
A tweet by Rob Lee, Former US Marine Corps officer and Russian defense policy expert, shows images of the drone equipped with an OFAB-100-120 high explosive warhead, as posted on Twitter.
Kaluga is about 321 kilometers northeast of the border, which is 160 kilometers southwest of Moscow.
On his Telegram channel, Vladislav Shapsha, governor of Kaluga Oblast, stated that at 5, when a forest close to the city had a drone explode in the air about 50 meters. Nothing was damaged, no casualties, and police agencies are investigating it.
Moscow Claims Ukraine Lacks Expertise To Modify Drones
The Russian Ministry of Defense wrote on Zvezda had doubted that Ukrainian engineers had improved the Soviet drone, stating that modifying the drones cannot be done without the original drawings and design blueprints.
The article mentions that only US engineers from the US defense firm Raytheon can improve the old Soviet Tu-141 with better navigation.
The first iterations of Tupolev Tu-141 (Strizh) were initially built at the Kharkiv aircraft plant in 1979 and used up to 1989 before the dissolution of the USSR, citing the Military factory. About 152 units were made, with Ukraine getting a few of these UAVs, integrated with the 321st Separate UAV Squadron in Odesa.
It is a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft to gather intel with systems imaging devices and radars. One of its innovations is that it can fly autonomously with outdated navigation that is common today. Recovery is made with a parachute that deploys after the mission, but some think it's a cruise missile, not a drone though.
The head of the Russian delegation in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, called out the US defense firm's involvement. He added that Ukraine had utilized Soviet-era drones with 1000 kilometers and modernized them at the Kharkiv Aviation Plant in 2022. Foreign engineers helped in the upgrade. Indicated that the Biden administration is not admitting that the US and its specialists are assisting Kyiv to escalate hostilities more.
The Soviet-era drone is reusable, and its length is 14.3 meters, and a with a 3.9-meter wingspan too. A 50-year-old drone that Americans turned into a kamikaze drone which is 5 tons. Garilov added that the use of depleted uranium tank shells would be nuclear proliferation that would escalate hostilities more.
Based on the Russian MoD suspecting US Raytheon of updating Ukrainian drones from the Soviet era for use against Russian targets.
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