Tu-141 II.

This is coolbert:

Once again Ukrainian drone strike against Russian strategic long range aviation assets. Probably Ukrainian Tu-141 long range intelligence and surveillance gathering drone attacking Russian air base Saratov / Engels.

Saratov / Engels the home base for Tu-95 bear and Tu-160 Blackjack long range bomber aircraft.

"Ukrainian Drone Attack On Airbase Deep Inside Russian Territory Kills 3 Soldiers"

From www.zerohedge.com BY TYLER DURDEN DEC 26, 2022.

"A fresh Ukrainian attack deep inside Russian territory has left three dead, Russian news agencies are reporting Monday, which further describe that an enemy drone was intercepted before debris came down on bystanders below."

"The Ukrainian drone was inbound over a military base in southern Russia identified as Engels airbase in the Saratov region, which is located more than 600km from the Ukrainian border. 'On December 26, at around 01:35 Moscow time, a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down at low altitude while approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region,' the Russian defense ministry said in a statement."

I believe the Tu-141 as originally envisioned was strictly an intelligence and surveillance gathering drone and was NOT designed to carry a payload of bang stuff. These attacks more than anything else can be seen as more of a nuisance than a real threat. It must also be noted that the Russian has only a very limited number of long range strategic bomber aircraft in their inventory. Perhaps only several dozen total that are flyable at any given moment. Because of attack these warplanes may have to deploy or disperse to other airfields maybe even beyond normal range by which they would be used to to fire missiles at Ukrainian targets in a standoff mode.

See previous blog entry as applicable with additional embedded links:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/12/tu-141.html

coolbert.