And what capabilities does the upgraded version of the famous supersonic bomber have?
Four Tu-160M supersonic strategic missile carriers are to be delivered to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation this year. This was announced by the head of the Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu at a conference call with the leadership of the Armed Forces. This is an upgraded version of the aircraft, nicknamed the "White Swan". Izvestia understood what these machines are capable of and what tasks they will solve in global deterrence.
Long-term planning
In 2018, a contract was signed between the United Aircraft Corporation and the Ministry of Defense for the construction of ten new Tu-160M supersonic bombers for long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces by 2027. The construction of new aircraft is being carried out by the Gorbunov Kazan Aircraft Factory, the main enterprise of the Russian military—industrial complex for the production of long-range bombers.
The Tu-160M is a noticeably modernized and updated modification of the Tu—160 supersonic strategic bomber, which made its first flight in 1981. The aircraft is equipped with a variable geometry wing, which provides it with high aerodynamic quality during takeoff and landing, as well as the ability to throw to the target at supersonic speeds. They can strike targets using long-range cruise missiles such as non-nuclear X-555 and X-101, as well as nuclear X-102. In the future, the aircraft will become the carrier of new hypersonic air-based missiles.
X-555 cruise missile
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
In 2015, the Minister of Defense decided to resume serial production of Tu-160 aircraft. The production program of the new Tu-160M is designed to update and increase the fleet of long-range aviation and fill the shortage of strategic aircraft before the completion and start of serial production of the new generation strategic missile carrier PAK DA (promising long-range aviation complex) "product 80", which is being created by the Tupolev Design Bureau. The new aircraft will appear by the end of the 2020s and will be mass-produced, apparently, until the end of the 2030s, and the basis of long-range aviation in the transition period will be modernized and newly produced Tu-160M. The first newly produced Tu-160M made its first flight in Kazan on January 12, 2022.
Preliminary tests of the first upgraded Tu-160M missile carrier with new NK-32 02 series engines
Image source: Photo: PJSC "UAC"
The Tu-160M is created completely "digital" — all documentation, drawings, and the production process of the aircraft are digitized and recorded in computer documentation. Production equipment has been updated at the Kazan Aircraft Factory and technological processes of welding titanium parts of the aircraft structure have been restored. Cooperation has been established with Russian manufacturers of assemblies and parts. Since 2020, serial production of updated unique NK-32-02 dual-circuit engines has been started, which are equipped with both new and upgraded machines.
Construction and modernization
The pre-production prototype of the new Tu-160M with the name "Peter Deinekin" made its first flight in January 2018. Aircraft No. 1 of the new series made its first flight in January 2022, and in December 2022, the second newly produced Tu-160M was transferred to the test station. By the summer of this year, the first Tu-160M has already entered the joint state testing program, and the second machine, probably in the first half of 2023, will go to factory flight tests. They will be followed by state tests and preparation for the delivery of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Thus, the first two cars produced in 2020-2022 will be transferred to long-range aviation by the end of 2023. There is no information about the two sides, which, according to the statement of the head of the military department, should be transferred this year.
Work on the resumption of production of the Tu-160 allowed us to engage in in-depth modernization of the existing fleet of aircraft of this type. As part of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the 2010s, there were 14 Tu-160 produced in the 1980s and 2000s. Then some of these aircraft underwent the so—called minor modernization, as a result of which the equipment was updated and the possibility of using the latest weapons systems, such as modern cruise missiles X-555 and X-101, appeared. Modernization according to the standards of the newly produced Tu-160 since 2018 began to be produced on the sides, the condition of the design of which allows to serve for several more years.
An employee of the plant in the production shop of the first samples of the upgraded Tu-160
Image Source: Photo: TASS/Egor Aleev
The aircraft are tested and updated airframe structural elements, receive the most modern equipment and new NK engines-32-02 — in fact, according to their capabilities, they meet the Tu-160M standards and have all the advantages of new machines.
The new Tu-160M today are the fastest heavy missile carriers in the world, the maximum speed of 2230 km/h is a record for aircraft of this class. The second record of the Tu-160M can be called the payload mass — up to 45 tons of ammunition. The maximum set of missiles is 12 X—101 cruise missiles in two bomb compartments. The range of the aircraft with a combat load is about 10 thousand km. The aircraft is equipped with an in-flight refueling system, it is capable of making unique non-stop intercontinental flights and can strike at any enemy anywhere in the world.
The first flight of the advanced strategic missile carrier Tu-160M
Image source: Photo: TASS/UAC press Service
The expansion of the Tu-160 fleet to more than 20 units suggests that a new regiment of these aircraft will be formed. And it is likely that the base of the second Tu-160 regiment will be one of the airfields in the Far East. This will allow you to control the Pacific Ocean and the west coast of North America. And not on temporary duty, but on a permanent basis. The permanent presence and distribution of the Tu-160 fleet to the east of the country will increase the stability of the aviation component of the strategic triad of modern Russia. The basis of which in the next two decades will be precisely the Tu-160M aircraft.
Dmitry Kornev
