Ukrainian Tupolev Tu-143. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
Ukrainian Tupolev Tu-143. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
Ukrainian Tupolev Tu-143. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
Ukrainian Tupolev Tu-143. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Is Hezbollah using decades-old Soviet Tupolev drones as missiles?


Robert Tollast
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On Monday, the Israeli army released a video of a weapon being guided into a suspected Hezbollah target, claiming to show a decades-old VR-3 drone, a variant of a drone originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

While the grainy footage is hard to make out, it appears to show the front of the drone, or potentially a cruise missile, which would likely be an Iran-supplied weapon. Israeli spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari claimed the video showed how Hezbollah was using civilian infrastructure to hide weapons.

If the weapon shown – seconds before it is destroyed – is a VR-3, it highlights the history of drone warfare in the Middle East. The Soviet Union operated an almost identical drone, the Tu-141, which has a much longer range of about 1,000km than the 200km-range 143 type, but the video is not clear enough to identify a variant. Both types could be packed with considerable explosive payloads.

The early generation drone, which entered service in 1976, is better known as the Tupolev Tu-143 and was used originally for reconnaissance missions, fitted with a camera and intended to be retrieved after use, falling to the ground by parachute.

While several variants have been updated over the years, only two countries still use the aircraft, Russia and Ukraine, for target practice and as an improvised cruise missile.

Most modern military drones navigate by global positioning system receivers GPS, operators using on-board cameras with a datalink – sometimes relayed through dedicated satellites – or digital radio transmissions that can rapidly “hop” between frequencies, to avoid jamming.

In contrast, the Tupolev drone was a Soviet version of an earlier US approach to unmanned aircraft, used by the US in the Vietnam War, with pre-digital electronics and high-frequency analogue radio signals, although the US launched and controlled their drones from manned aircraft.

Troops used the Tupolev Tu-143 during air defence training in Crimea, in 1999. Alamy
Troops used the Tupolev Tu-143 during air defence training in Crimea, in 1999. Alamy

How then, did Hezbollah acquire what is potentially a very old drone?

A possible source could be Hezbollah's ally Syria, which according to aviation expert Steven Zaloga, operated the Tu-143 and maintained a strong troop presence in Lebanon after successive wars with Israel between the mid-1970s and 2005. Heavy fighting between Syria and Israel during their 1982 war, which involved aerial battles over Lebanon, is seen by many as the first conflict where both sides used drones.

Hezbollah has access to more modern drones today, however, including Iran-made Shahed-136 drones that can be made with a carbon fibre, lightweight body, weighing about 200kg. The Shaheds can be hidden in small vans, mass-produced and used to attack at low levels at extremely long ranges over 1,500km carrying up to 50kg of explosives.

These can be used in swarms to overwhelm air defences and are far more portable than the 1200kg Tupolev, which originally came with a special mounted container.

This raises the question as to why Hezbollah might still operate such an old unmanned system.

One reason could be the sheer power of the jet-propelled drone if packed with explosives. It could be loaded with significantly more explosives than a Shahed and with a speed of about 1,000km/h, compared to the Shahed’s 200km/h, it could quickly strike targets far within Israel.

For this reason, Ukraine repurposed the Tupolev drones as flying bombs due to their shortage of cruise missiles after Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

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5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

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It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. 

What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. 

 

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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.

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Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.

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No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year. 

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It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

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Updated: September 23, 2024, 11:14 AM`