According to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov, it is also possible that a run with new NK-32 engines will be performed
PERM, December 9. /tass/. Tests and the first flight of the upgraded Tu-160M strategic missile carrier assembled from scratch are planned for early next year, and a run with new NK-32 engines may also be carried out. This was announced on Thursday by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov at the UEC - Perm Motors enterprise.
"The first flight of the new Tu-160 is planned, I hope, at the beginning of next year. <...> Let it run on the new NK-32 at least," Borisov said in a conversation with the head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov.
According to him, this is the first Tu-160, which will be made almost entirely on the new element base, and not from the existing reserve.
Earlier, a TASS source in the aircraft industry reported that the Tu-160M strategic missile carrier, assembled from scratch, will run along the runway for the first time at the S. P. Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant (a branch of PJSC Tupolev) in December 2021.
Tu-160 (unofficial Russian name - "White Swan") is a Soviet, then Russian supersonic strategic bomber-missile carrier with variable wing geometry. Along with the Tu-95MS, it forms the basis of the modern fleet of long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Designed to defeat nuclear and conventional weapons targets in remote areas. The largest supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation. In 2015, it became known about the decision to resume production of the Tu-160 in an upgraded version.
