Development

The Tu-143 was introduced in 1976 and strongly resembled the Tu-141, but was substantially scaled-down. It was a short-range (60–70 kilometer) tactical reconnaissance system and had low-level flight capability. The Tu-143 was truck-launched with JATO boosting, recovered by parachute, and powered by a TR3-117 turbojet with 5.8 kN (590 kgf, 1300 lbf) thrust. The initial version carried film cameras, but later versions carried a TV or radiation detection payload, with data relayed to a ground station over a datalink. Some 950 units were produced in the 1970s and 1980s.

Operation history

The Tu-143 was used by Syria in reconnaissance missions over Israel and Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War, as well as by Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine appeared to use them to spot Russian air defences and as an ersatz cruise missile.^[2] On 29 June 2022, one Tu-143 carrying explosives was shot down in Kursk Oblast.^[3]

M-143 variant

A target drone version, the M-143, was introduced in the mid-1980s.

Tu-243 variant

The Tu-143 was followed into service in the late 1990s by the similar but improved "Tu-243 Reys-D", with a 25 cm (10 inch) fuselage stretch, to provide greater fuel capacity and about twice the range; it had an uprated TR3-117 engine with 6.28 kN (640 kgf, 1,410 lbf) thrust; and improved low-altitude guidance.^[4]

Tu-300 variant

Since 1995, Tupolev began promoting the further refined "Tu-300 Korshun", which resembles its predecessors but is fitted with a nose antenna dome and nose fairings for modern sensors and electronic systems. It also features a centerline pylon for a sensor pod or munitions. Financial issues forced a halt to development at the end of the 1990s, but work was resumed in 2007.

Current operators

•  Belarus^{[citation needed]}
•  North Korea^[5]
•  Russia: In service as of 2016 as targets.^[6][7]
•  Syria: Received VR-3s in 1984^[8]
•  Ukraine^[9]

Former operators

•  Bulgaria: retired^{[citation needed]}
•  Czech Republic: VR-3 Rejs, retired in 1995^{[citation needed]}
•  Czechoslovakia: Received two squadrons in 1984^[8]
•  Republic of Iraq^{[citation needed]}
•  Romania: VR-3 in service from 1987 until the early 2000s^[10]
•  Slovakia: VR-3 Rejs, retired^{[citation needed]}
•  Soviet Union: Passed to successor states^[8]