39 years ago, the flagship of Russia's long - range aviation, the pinnacle of the Soviet aircraft industry, and just a very beautiful plane-the Tu-160 strategic bomber-took to the sky for the first time. In official documents, the word "multi-mode"is added to its titles. This is the main advantage of the Tu-160 over the American B-1, with which it is often compared.
The car asked for air
In fact, on December 18, 1981, the Tu-160 was not supposed to take off - only high-speed runs on the runway of the airfield in Zhukovsky were planned for this day. After landing, test pilot Boris Veremey reported that the car "asked for the air itself." The flight around the circle was successful, in 1984 Veremey became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
The take-off was preceded by the titanic work of the entire aviation industry of a huge country - more than 800 enterprises and research institutes of the Soviet Union participated in cooperation on the "product 70" (as the Tu-160 was called in the design documents). The Kazan aircraft Factory, where the serial production of the aircraft was launched, was specially reconstructed for this purpose, and unique equipment was installed. For example, a chamber for electro-beam welding in vacuum of two 12-meter parts of the center section, - the stanovy ridge of the aircraft, to which the rotary consoles of the wings and everything else are attached. The technology of splicing titanium in the stressed state of the unit under special additives and fluxes still remains the know-how of Kazan residents. This operation was carried out at night-otherwise the work of the most powerful equipment left half of the city without light.
The placement of the engines also caused a lot of trouble. The scheme of the Tu-144: four units in one package-was rejected for two reasons. First, a fire in one of the installations could set the others on fire. secondly (and this is the main thing) along the axis of the aircraft, it was necessary to leave space for bomb boxes. We considered options for positioning the engines in pairs: vertically and horizontally. a model bomber with air intakes above and below the center section was built and blown into tsagi. This solution provided the best aerodynamics, but doubts about the manufacturability and combat survivability forced the designers to continue the search. A total of 14 layout options were tested.
Stealth with a handle
The Tu-160 became the first domestic aircraft with an electric control system. Crews were invariably surprised to find themselves in the cockpit with a "fighter" handle instead of the usual steering wheel for heavy bombers. It turned out that the multi-meter all-rotating elements of the tail are perfectly controlled thanks to the hydraulics hidden in the tail of the aircraft (it was more difficult to place it than to hang the engines). The huge plane was controlled literally by fingers, and electronic stability on the course increased the range of flight.
at this time in samara (then still kuibyshev) The Design Bureau of Nikolai Kuznetsov developed engines for the Tu-160. Developments on power plants for the Tu-144 and Tu-22M were used, with special attention paid to reducing fuel consumption (the mentioned units were incredibly voracious) and the visibility of the aircraft in the infrared range. Yes, a quarter of a century before the appearance of the expression "stealth technology" in everyday life, the creators of the Tu-160 laid them in their aircraft. The air intakes were coated with a black graphite coating that absorbs radio waves, and the nose was painted with an organic composition with the same properties. The engine shielding system is still a mystery. the windows of the cabin were laid with a metal mesh that blocks the radiation of the devices.
However, despite the design tricks, American intelligence received an image of the Tu-160 even before it took off. The bomber was photographed at the Zhukovsky gas station, between two Tu-144s, during ground tests. US military intelligence claimed that the image was obtained from a satellite, in fact it was made by a passenger of the plane coming in to land at the nearby Bykovo airport, writes "Military Review".
Live Tu-160 was the first of the foreigners to see the US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci - in Kubinka he was shown one plane on the ground and two in flight. There also publicly announced some characteristics of the bomber - in particular, that it is able to fly without refueling 14 thousand kilometers. It was in 1988: perestroika, glasnost, all that. The fact that the plane with the tail number 12 was flying on three engines (the fourth had a capricious control system), the American was not told.
The 100-ton thrust allows the Tu-160 not only to fly on three engines (it happened on two), but also to rise into the air with spoilers released due to inattention. When they were removed, the 54-meter bomber jerked so that the pilots were pressed into their seats.
Two planes
The Tu-160 is often compared to the B-1 Lancer. Indeed, our aircraft was made in response to the American one, but it surpassed it in most indicators. the lancer has an unfortunate fate: it was conceived as a "clean" bomber designed to deliver thermonuclear charges at low altitude and supersonic speed. however, soon after its appearance, long-range cruise missiles became fashionable, and the need to break through the air defense, skirting the folds of the terrain, disappeared. The use of missiles requires different sights, different tactics and training of crews - in general, the B-1 was not the lot. By our time, the bomber fleet is pretty dilapidated and the US Air Force command regularly talks about removing the aircraft from service, but the powerful lobby in Congress repeatedly leaves it in service.
The Tu-160 was originally designed as a multi-mode aircraft, capable of flying both high and low, at supersonic and without it, with the same efficiency to use bombs and missiles. pilots love it for its power, handling and comfort - during long flights, you can walk around the spacious cabin, warm up lunch in the microwave and even relax between the navigator's seats. Those appreciate the Tu-160 autonomous system of astrocorrection, with high accuracy determining the position of the machine by the sun and stars - it especially helps when flying over the ocean and in the polar zones. And everyone - even people far from aviation-admires the elegance and formidable beauty of the "White Swan".
So we have, in Russian, it happens. We did the answer, and it turned out to be a masterpiece.
Anton Valagin
