The Israel Defense Forces are currently conducting a series of strikes targeting Hezbollah military positions in Lebanon. During one such strike, Israeli forces located and destroyed a facility that had been converted into a launch site for a cruise missile identified as the DR-3. This missile is essentially a modified Soviet-era Tu-143 Reys reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle.
According to i24news, the DR-3 missile, of russian origin, has a range of up to 200 kilometers and could potentially strike targets as far north as Tel Aviv. The report, which included footage of the strike, did not clarify how many of these missiles Hezbollah possesses, though it did state that on Sunday, September 22, Hezbollah had planned to launch more than 150 missiles and drones at Israel.
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Until now, there had been no indication that Hezbollah possessed DR-3 cruise missiles, nor any cruise missiles at all. Furthermore, this seems to be the first time Israeli forces have encountered the DR-3 missile.
Speculation suggests that Hezbollah may have acquired the Tu-143 systems from the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, which had received these UAVs from the Soviet Union. The basic specifications of the Tu-143 Reys UAV include a fuselage length of 8.06 meters, a wingspan of 2.24 meters, a launch weight of 1.23 tons and a range of up to 180 kilometers with a maximum flight duration of 13 minutes.
A critical question arises: who advised Hezbollah or Syria to convert the Tu-143 Reys into an improvised cruise missile? The IDF’s statement suggesting russian origin of the DR-3 points to the possibility that russian assistance was involved in this upgrade.
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