"Hezbollah upgrades Soviet Tu-143 Reis drone into DR-3 cruise missile

The Israeli Defence Forces discovered and destroyed a building that had been converted into a launching position for a DR-3 cruise missile, which is actually an updated Soviet-made Tu-143 Reis reconnaissance UAV.

Here's What We Know

The Israeli publication i24news states that the DR-3 has a range of up to 200 kilometres and is of Russian origin.

The publication states that the DR-3's range allows it to hit targets north of Tel Aviv. It is not yet known how many of these cruise missiles Hezbollah has in service. It is only known that on 22 September, the group planned to launch more than 150 missiles and drones into Israel.

It is worth paying attention to the details highlighted by Defence Express. Until now, there was no information that Hezbollah had Russian-made DR-3 cruise missiles in its arsenal. Moreover, it was not known that they had cruise missiles at all.

Apparently, this is the first time that the Israeli military itself has encountered this DR-3, which is essentially a Soviet Tu-143 Reis.

It is possible that Hezbollah was able to obtain a certain number of Tu-143s from the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, where these drones were supplied by the Soviet Union.

However, the question arises as to who could have helped the Lebanese and Syrians to turn the Reis into an improvised cruise missile. The Israeli publication tried to find the answer: it was Russian specialists who could provide guidance on such an upgrade.

Source: i24news