Tupolev Tu-123

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The Tupolev Tu-123 Yastreb (Hawk, Russian: Ястреб) was one of the earliest Soviet reconnaissance drones that began development in 1960. Sometimes referred to as the "DBR-1", it was introduced in 1964.

The Tu-123 was a long-range, high-altitude supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft, in the form of a big dart, conceptually somewhat similar to the United States' D-21. It carried both film cameras and SIGINT payloads. The Tu-123 was ground-launched with RATO booster and powered by a KR-15 afterburning turbojet in flight. The Tu-123 was expendable, parachuting its payload to the ground for recovery. The KR-15 was an expendable version of the R-15 engine used on the twin-engine MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor. The lack of recovery capability was unsatisfactory. This concern led to the Tu-139 Yastreb 2, which could land on unprepared airstrips, but it was never put into production, since by that time the Soviets had shifted their emphasis to low-level reconnaissance.

[edit] Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: None
• Length: 27.84 m (91 ft 4 in)
• Wingspan: 8.41 m (27 ft 7 in)
• Height: 4.78 m (15 ft 8 in)
• Empty weight: 11,450 kg (25,250 lb)
• Gross weight: 35,610 kg (78,520 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Tumansky KR-15, 98.1 kN (22,046 lbf) thrust

Performance

• Maximum speed: 2,700 km/h (1,675 mph)
• Range: 3,200 km (2,000 miles)
• Service ceiling: 22,800 m (74,800 ft)

[edit] References

This article contains material that originally came from the web article Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.