Tupolev Tu-160
The Tupolev Tu-160 is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing nuclear-capable heavy strategic bomber and airborne missile platform designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The aircraft is large, longer than a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress at 54 m, with wingspan 56 m when spread, 36 m when swept back. The Tu-160 is operated by the Long Range Aviation branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The Tu-160 entered service in 1987, the last strategic bomber designed for the Soviet Air Forces. It was built to serve as both a conventional and nuclear bomber. Production was stopped in 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the newly independent Russian and Ukrainian air forces inherited a fleet of 13 and 19 Tu-160s, respectively. Following protracted negotiations, the Russian Federation purchased eight Ukrainian Tu-160s, while the remaining 11 were scrapped in the late 1990s under the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement. Following these actions, the sole operator of the aircraft type became the Russian Aerospace Forces' Long Range Aviation branch, which still had 17 Tu-160s in service as of 2022. The type had its combat debut in November 2015 during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, conducting numerous airstrikes using Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles. Various overseas deployments have been conducted, including to distant nations such as Venezuela and South Africa.
Since the early 2000s, the active fleet has undergone several upgrades, largely focusing on various electronic systems. A program of modernising existing aircraft to a new Tu-160M standard and building new aircraft was embarked upon, with the first updated aircraft delivered in December 2014. Plans were announced in 2015 for the delivery of 50 new-built Tu-160Ms and the upgrading of 16 existing aircraft.
The new bombers are reported to have more sophisticated armament, engines, and avionics than the original Tu-160. In January 2022, the first newly-built Tu-160M performed a test flight, with two new aircraft planned for delivery in 2022 of ten on order.
Development
Origins
The first competition for a supersonic strategic heavy bomber was launched in the Soviet Union in 1967. In 1972, the Soviet Union launched a new multi-mission bomber competition to create a new supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber with a maximum speed of Mach 2.3, in response to the US Air Force B-1 bomber project. The Tupolev design, named Aircraft 160M, with a lengthened blended wing layout and incorporating some elements of the Tu-144, competed against the Myasishchev M-18 and the Sukhoi T-4 designs. Work on the new Soviet bomber continued despite an end to the B-1A and, in the same year, the design was accepted by the government committee. The prototype was photographed by an airline passenger at a Zhukovsky Airfield in November 1981, about a month before the aircraft's first flight on 18 December 1981. Production was authorized in 1984, beginning at the Kazan Aircraft Production Association.Modernization
In 2002, the Russian Defence Ministry and KAPO agreed to modernise 15 Tu-160s. In July 2006, the first overhauled and partially modernized aircraft was accepted into Russian service after testing; it reportedly received the capability to use conventional weapons but was not upgraded with new avionics as previously planned. The first modernized aircraft capable of carrying the new long-range Kh-555 conventional cruise missile was delivered to the Russian Air Force in April 2008; a follow-up contract for the modernization of three more aircraft is estimated to cost RUR3.4 billion.The modernization appeared to be split into two phases, first concentrating on life extension with some initial communication–navigation updates, followed by engine upgrades after 2016. In November 2014, a Tu-160 upgraded with new radar and avionics performed its first flight. The aircraft was delivered to the Russian Air Force as the Tu-160M model in December 2014. The phase I update was due to be completed by 2016, but industrial limitations may delay it to 2019 or beyond.
Although Kuznetsov designed an NK-32M engine with improved reliability over the NK-32 engines, its successor company has struggled to deliver working units. Metallist-Samara JSC had not produced new engines for a decade when it was given a contract in 2011 to overhaul 26 of the existing engines; two years later, only four had been finished. Ownership and financial concerns hinder the prospects of a new production line; the firm insists it needs a minimum of 20 engines ordered per year but the government is only prepared to pay for 4–6 engines per year. A further improved engine was bench tested in 2012 and projected to potentially enter production as early as 2016.
On 2 February 2020, the modernized Tu-160M performed its first test flight at the airfield of the Kazan Aviation Plant named for I.Gorbunov. Deliveries started later that year, five aircraft were equipped with the new engines by August 2022. According to Vladimir Putin, 4 Tu-160M were delivered in 2023.
The CEO of Rostec has said that most of the bomber's systems and equipment will be more sophisticated than the initial Tu-160, particularly the armament, engines, and avionics.
Resumed production
In 2008, Russia revealed plans for one new Tu-160 to be delivered every one to two years with the aim of increasing the active inventory to 30 or more aircraft by 2025–2030. On 29 April 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, on order of President Putin, announced that Tu-160 production would resume. In May 2015, TASS reported that the Russian Air Force would purchase at least 50 KAPO-built Tu-160s. General Viktor Bondarev stated that development of the PAK DA would proceed alongside Tu-160 production.On 16 November 2017, a newly assembled Tu-160, built from an unfinished airframe, was unveiled during a roll-out ceremony at KAPO, signifying a restoration of some production techniques that had fallen into disuse after the termination of serial production in 1992. The new aircraft was named Petr Deinekin after the first commanding officer of the Russian Air Force. According to Dmitri Rogozin, the serial production of wholly new airframes for the modernized Tu-160M2 should begin in 2019 with deliveries to the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2023.
The Petr Deinekin Tu-160 performed its first public flight on 25 January 2018, during President Vladimir Putin's visit to the KAPO plant, and a contract for ten upgraded Tu-160M2s was signed. On 12 January 2022 a new-build Tu-160M had its first low altitude basic test flight. It is planned to deliver two new-build Tu-160M in 2022 with production increasing until all 50 new aircraft on order are delivered. In December 2022, United Aircraft Corporation announced that the second new-build Tu-160M and the fourth modernized Tu-160M were starting flight tests. It was also reported that the first new Tu-160 had completed factory testing. Four aircraft were delivered on 21 February 2024.
Other proposed variants
A demilitarized, commercial version of the Tu-160, named Tu-160SK, was displayed at Asian Aerospace in Singapore in 1994 with a model of a small space vehicle named Burlak attached underneath the fuselage.In January 2018, Vladimir Putin, while visiting the KAPO plant, floated an idea of creating a civilian passenger supersonic transport version of Tu-160. Experts quoted by the news media were skeptical about the commercial and technological feasibility of such a civilian conversion.
Design
The Tu-160 is a variable-geometry wing aircraft. The aircraft employs a fly-by-wire control system with a blended wing profile, and full-span slats are used on the leading edges, with double-slotted flaps on the trailing edges and cruciform tail. Titanium constitutes around 30% of the aircraft's empty weight, and the largest component weighs. The Tu-160 has a crew of four in K-36LM ejection seats.The Tu-160 is powered by four Kuznetsov NK-32 afterburning turbofan engines, the most powerful ever fitted to a combat aircraft. Unlike the American B-1B Lancer, which reduced the original Mach 2+ requirement for the B-1A to achieve a smaller radar cross-section, the Tu-160 retains variable intake ramps, and is capable of reaching Mach 2.05 speed at altitude. The Tu-160 is equipped with a probe-and-drogue in-flight refueling system for extended-range missions, although it is rarely used. The Tu-160 has an internal fuel capacity of. In February 2008, Tu-160 bombers and Il-78 refueling tankers practiced air refueling during air combat exercise, as well as MiG-31, A-50 and other Russian combat aircraft.
The aircraft carries a TsNPO Leninets Obzor-K radar for tracking ground and air targets, and a separate Sopka Terrain-following radar. Although the Tu-160 was designed for reduced detectability to both radar and infrared signature, it is not a stealth aircraft.
Weapons are carried in two internal bays, each capable of holding of free-fall weapons or a rotary launcher for missiles capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads. The aircraft's total weapons load capacity is 45,000 kg. No defensive weapons are provided; the Tu-160 is the first post-World War II Soviet bomber to lack such defenses. In 2020, officials stated that the Russian Aerospace Forces is planning to arm the Tu-160 with new hypersonic missiles, in particular the nuclear-capable Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile.
While similar in appearance to the American B-1 Lancer, the Tu-160 is a different class of combat aircraft; its primary role being a standoff missile platform. The Tu-160 is also larger and faster than the B-1B and has a slightly greater combat range, though the B-1B has a larger combined payload with external payload. Another noticeable difference is that the B-1's colour scheme is usually subdued dark gray to reduce visibility; the Tu-160 is painted with anti-flash white, giving it the nickname among Russian airmen "White Swan". On 16 September 2023, Commander of the long-range aviation Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash announced that Russian Tu-160s were outfitted with the newest Kh-BD cruise missile with range of 6,500 km. Each bomber can carry 12 missiles separated on two rotary launchers.