Tu-160 Blackjack, Rusian Strategic Bomber

Manufactured by the Tupolev aircraft research and engineering complex joint stock company of Moscow and the Kazan-Gorbunov Aircraft Production Association in Tatarstan from 1980 to 1992.

The maiden flight of the bomber was completed in December 1981 and it entered service in April 1987. Production has since restarted and a Tu-160 was delivered to the Russian Air Force in May 2000. About 35 aircraft were built of which only 16 are in service in Russia.

Tu-160 Strategic Bomber

The Tu-160 was designated as White Swan due to its manoeuvrability and anti-flash white finish. The purpose of the aircraft is the delivery of nuclear and conventional weapons deep in continental theatres of operation. The aircraft has all-weather, day-and-night capability and can operate at all geographical latitudes. The performance of the Russian Tu-160 is often compared with the US B-1B.

Tu-160 Bomber Upgrades

Kazan Aircraft Production Organisation (KAPO) was awarded a contract to upgrade the Russian Air Force's 15 Tu-160 bombers. The Tupolev upgrade package includes new targeting systems, upgraded cruise missiles and an electronic warfare suite. The first upgraded aircraft was delivered in July 2006.

In September 2008, two Tu-160 bombers made the first transatlantic flight for the type, from Murmansk to Venezuela, on a training mission.

In June 2010, two Russian Tu-160 bombers completed a record-breaking 23hr patrol covering 18,000km of flight range. The bombers flew by the borders of Russia over the Arctic and Pacific Oceans and finally landed at Engels base in the Volga region.

Tupolev completed bench tests of modernised avionics complex for the Tu-160 bomber in March 2013.

The Russian Defence Ministry awarded a RUB3.4bn ($105m) contract to Tupolev and KAPO for the modernisation of three Tu-160 bombers, in July 2013.

A Tu-160 aircraft with upgraded airborne radar and navigation equipment made first flight on 16 November 2014. It entered service with the Russian Air Force in December 2014.

Tu-160 Variants

The Tu-160 has eight variants: Tu-160S, Tu-160V, Tu-160 NK-74, Tu-160M, Tu-160P, Tu-160PP, Tu-160R and Tu-160SK.

Tu-160V is an upgraded version which uses liquid hydrogen as fuel while Tu-160 NK-74 is an advance version powered by NK-74 engines.

Tu-160M can accommodate two additional long-range, hypersonic Kh-90 missiles. Tu-160P, also known as Tu-161, is a long range escort or interceptor aircraft.

Tu-160SK is an upgraded commercial version principally used to launch satellites within the Burlak system.

Bomber Design

The bomber's airframe has a distinctive appearance, with the wing and fuselage gradually integrated into a single-piece configuration. The airframe structure is based on a titanium beam, all-welded torsion box. Throughout the entire airframe, all the main airframe members are secured to the titanium beam.

The variable geometry outer tapered wings sweep back from 20° to 65° in order to provide high-performance flight characteristics at supersonic and subsonic speeds. The tail surfaces, horizontal and vertical, are one piece and all-moving.

The Tu-160 uses fly-by-wire controls. The aircraft is equipped with three-strut landing gear, a tail wheel and a brake parachute. It can attack strategic targets with nuclear and conventional weapons in continental theatres of operation. For take-off, the aircraft requires a concrete runway of 3,050m.

Tu-160 Cockpit

The crew of the Tu-160 comprises a pilot, co-pilot, a navigator and an operator. The four crew are equipped with zero / zero ejection seats, which provide the crew with the option of ejecting safely throughout the entire range of altitudes and air speeds, including when the aircraft is parked.

In the cockpit and cabins, all the data is presented on conventional electro-mechanical indicators and monitors, and not head-up displays or cathode ray tube displays.

The Tu-160 has a control stick for flight control as used in a fighter aircraft – rather than control wheels or yokes, which are usually used in large transporter or bomber aircraft.

Weapons

The Tu-160 can carry nuclear and conventional weapons including long-range nuclear missiles. The missiles are accommodated on multi-station launchers in each of the two weapons bays.

The Tu-160 is capable of carrying the strategic cruise missile Kh-55MS, which is known in the West by the Nato designation and codename AS-15 Kent. Up to 12 Kh-55MS missiles can be carried, six in each bay. The Kh-55MS is propelled by a turbofan engine. The maximum range is 3,000km, and it is armed with a 200kt nuclear warhead.

The weapons bays are also fitted with launchers for the Kh-15P, which has the Nato designation and codename AS-16 Kickback. The Kh-15P Kickback has solid rocket fuel propulsion, which gives a range up to 200km. The Kickback can be fitted with a conventional 250kg warhead or a nuclear warhead. The aircraft is also capable of carrying a range of aerial bombs with a total weight up to 40t.

Tu-160 Avionics

The aircraft is highly computerised, and the avionics systems include an integrated aiming, navigation and flight control system, with a navigation and attack radar, an electronic countermeasures system, and automatic controls.

Turbofan Engines

The aircraft propulsion system consists of four Samara NK-321 turbofan engines, each of which provide a maximum thrust of 25,000kg. The engines are installed in two pods under the shoulders of the wing. The air intake incorporates an adjustable vertical wedge.

The bomber has an in-flight refuelling system. In the inoperative position, the refuelling probe is retracted into the nose of the fuselage in front of the pilot's cabin. The aircraft fuel capacity is 160,000kg.

Performance

The Tu-160 can climb at a rate of 70m per second. The maximum and cruise speeds of the bomber are 2,220km per hour and 960km per hour, respectively. The range of the aircraft is 12,300km. Its combat radius is 7,300km.

The service ceiling is 16,000m. The Tu-160 has a flight endurance of 15 hours. The aircraft weighs around 110,000kg and its maximum take-off weight is 275,000kg.

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Tu-95 Bear, Soviet/Rusian Strategic Bomber

The Tu-95 is the world's only swept-wing turboprop ever to enter service. Its distinct engines, each with two counter-rotating propellers, also make the Bear the fastest propeller-driven airplane ever built.

The original Tu-95 was designed to carry two nuclear bombs to targets in the continental US. Later versions carried cruise missiles for long-ange stand-off missions. The Bear has also been used for reconnaissance, especially by the Soviet/Russian Navy which used the aircraft to locate US aircraft carrier task forces.

A specialized variant of the Bear is the Tu-142 dedicated to maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare. Over 300 Bears were built.

General characteristics

• Crew: 6–7; pilot, co pilot, flight engineer, communications system operator, navigator, tail gunner plus sometimes another navigator.
• Length: 46.2 m (151 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan: 50.10 m (164 ft 5 in)
• Height: 12.12 m (39 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 310 m² (3,330 ft²)
• Empty weight: 90,000 kg (198,000 lb)
• Loaded weight: 171,000 kg (376,200 lb)
• Max. takeoff weight: 188,000 kg (414,500 lb)
• Powerplant: 4 × Kuznetsov NK-12M turboprops, 11,000 kW (14,800 shp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 920 km/h (510 knots, 575 mph)
• Range: 15,000 km (8,100 nmi, 9,400 mi) unrefueled
• Service ceiling: 13,716 m (45,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 10 m/s (2,000 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 606 kg/m² (124 lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: 235 W/kg (0.143 hp/lb)

Armament

• Radar-controlled guns: 1 or 2 × 23 mm AM-23 autocannon in tail turret.
• Missiles: Up to 15,000 kg (33,000 lb), including the Raduga Kh-20, Kh-22, and Kh-55/101/102 Air-to-surface missiles.

Appearance of Tu-95 at July 1955 Aviation Display at Tushino put western observers at a loss. A combination of propellers and swept wing and tail surfaces seemed to be inappropriate and early analysis of Bear's performance resulted in unrealistically downplayed bomber's performance. Western experiments with supersonic propellers flown on XF-84H and XF-88B have shown considerable loss in performance of the high-rotating propeller when tips were reaching supersonic speeds.

First DoD estimates shown that Bear was not capable of exceeding 400 mph with range of 7,800 miles. Appearance of Tu-114 (demilitarized version of bomber with slightly greater fuselage diameter) force DoD to review its numbers on Bear: 460 mph and max. range of 6,000 miles. In April of 1960 Tu-114D set a speed-with-load record at average of over 545 mph round 5,000 miles.

In 1975 the figure for range changed to 7,800 miles and currently it is believed to be 9,200 miles with 25,000 lb load. Level speed was admitted to be 570 mph (Mach 0.82) at 25,000 ft and 520 mph (Mach 0.785) at 41,000 ft. Cruising speed of Tu-95 is 442 mph (Mach 0.67). Later versions with more powerful engines have higher performance.

Max. speed at 25,000 ft 575 mph, at S/L 404 mph, nominal cruising speed 442 mph, ceiling 39,370 ft, combat radius with 25,000 lb payload 3,975 miles, with one in-flight refueling 5,155 miles.

It is rumored that Bear is known to be able to out accelerate contemporary western interceptors. This hard to believe fact can be accounted by use of variable-pitch propellers of NK-12M turboprops. Modern jets need to use afterburners to keep up with accelerating Bear. In fact, one of the photo showing Panavia Toronado using reheat on one of the engines while pursuing this remarkable bomber.

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Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

In August 2014, the B-52 Stratofortress celebrated 60 years in the air. The eight-engine, 390,000-pound (176,901-kilogram) jet was America’s first long-range, swept-wing heavy bomber. It began as an intercontinental, high-altitude nuclear bomber, and its operational capabilities were adapted to meet changing defense needs.

B-52s have been modified for low-level flight, conventional bombing, extended-range flights and transport of improved defensive and offensive equipment — including ballistic and cruise missiles that can be launched hundreds of miles from their targets.

It had a rocky beginning. The original XB-52 design, selected by the Army Air Forces in 1946, was for a straight-wing, six-engine, propeller-powered heavy bomber. On Oct. 21, 1948, Boeing Chief Engineer Ed Wells and his design team were in Dayton, Ohio, when the Air Force’s chief of bomber development told them to scrap the propellers and come up with an all-jet bomber. Over the following weekend, in a Dayton hotel room, the team designed a new eight-engine jet bomber, still called the B-52, made a scale model out of balsa wood and prepared a 33-page report.

This effort impressed the Air Force’s Air Materiel Command, and the design was approved. As the war worsened in Korea, the Air Force, in 1951, designated the B-52 the country’s next intercontinental bomber and approved an initial production order for 13 B-52s. The first B-52A flew Aug. 5, 1954.

After assembly of three B-52As, production converted to B-52Bs, with more weight and larger engines. Some had photoreconnaissance or electronic capsules in their bomb bays and were redesignated RB-52Bs. The turbofan powered B-52H, the final version of the B-52, made its first flight March 6, 1961, and is still in service.

With each variant, the B-52 increased in range, power and capability. In all, 744 B-52s were produced by Seattle, Wash., and Wichita, Kan., plants between 1952 and 1962. Throughout the 1950s, the B-52 chalked up many distance and speed records. It cut the round-the-world speed record in half, and in January 1962, flew 12,500 miles (20,117 kilometers) nonstop from Japan to Spain without refueling. This flight alone broke 11 distance and speed records. The B-52 saw active duty in the Vietnam War and was used in the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and over Afghanistan in 2001.

On Oct. 26, 2012, Boeing marked 50 years since it had delivered its last B-52 Stratofortress to the U.S. Air Force. H-model bomber 61-040 had been assigned to Minot Air Force Base, N.D., where it remained in active service. Modern engineering analyses showed the B-52’s expected lifespan extending beyond 2040.

In May 2014, The Air Force introduced the first B-52 aircraft upgraded with an advanced communications system developed by Boeing into its fleet. The Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) modification added several communication data links, full-color LCD displays with real-time intelligence feeds overlaid on moving maps, a state-of-the-art computing network, and the ability to retarget a weapon, or mission parameters, in flight. At that time, the Air Force operated 76 B-52s primarily out of Barksdale Air Force Base, La.; Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and planned to upgrade all of them.

Technical Specifications

First flight	April 15, 1952
Model number	464-67
Classification	Bomber
Span	185 feet
Length	157 feet 7 inches (B-52H)
Gross weight	488,000 pounds (B-52H)
Top speed	650 mph (B-52H)
Range	More than 10,000 miles (B-52H)
Ceiling	More than 50,000 feet (B-52H)
Power	Eight 17,000-pound-thrust TF-33  turbofan engines (B-52H)
Accommodation	5 crew
Armament	2 Hound Dog supersonic missiles and bombs, 20 mm cannon in radar-directed tail turret, 20 SRAMs or 20 ALCMs (B-52H)

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B-1B Lancer Gets New Missiles

It has been a busy year for the B-1B Lancer, a workhorse bomber for the U.S. Air Force. The plane has been involved in airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group for months, including during an onslaught on the Syrian town of Kobane that eventually helped Kurdish forces take the town back from enemy fighters.

The B-1B also is in the midst of getting new weapons. While the aircraft in the Middle East continue to make bombing runs, other Lancers stateside have been involved in a series of experiments to upgrade the plane’s arsenal of weapons.

Air Force officials said Monday that the bomber has become the first U.S. aircraft to be approved for a new long-range missile. The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER), made by Lockheed Martin, more than doubles the range of the legacy JASSM missile to more than 500 miles. Each missile weighs about 2,000 pounds, and uses infrared technology to find its target.

The older JASSM is used on the B-52 Stratofortress bomber and the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Fight Falcon fighter jets, Air Force officials said. To date, however, the long-range missile only has been approved for use on the Lancer. It isn’t clear if and when it will be used in airstrikes.

The breakthrough comes as a new B-1B squadron settles in for a deployment targeting militants in Iraq and Syria. Air Force officials said last week that the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, of Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., replaced the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, of Dyess Air Force Base, Tex. They are flying from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and performing missions over Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

“We’ve dropped approximately 250 munitions on both deliberate targets, which are targets assigned prior to take off, and dynamic targets, which are targets passed to our airmen while they are airborne,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Kramer, the squadron commander.

The B-1B also has been involved in testing for another weapon, the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). The round, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with the Navy and the Air Force, has a 1,000-pound warhead. It underwent a successful test flight from the Lancer bomber last month.

Technical Specifications

First flight	Dec. 23, 1974
Span	137 feet (extended), 79 feet (swept aft)
Length	146 feet
Height	34 feet
Gross weight	477,000 pounds
Power plant	Four 30,000 plus pound thrust General Electric F-101-GE-102 turbofan engines with afterburners
Speed	Mach 1.2 at sea level
Crew	Four
Operating altitude	30,000-plus feet
Armament	Up to 84 Mark 82 conventional 500 pounds bombs, or 30 CBU-87/89/97, or 24 JDAMS, or can be reconfigured forwide range of nuclear bombs

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Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

Designed during the Cold War as the world’s first low-observable or “stealth” strategic bomber, the B-2 Spirit harkens back to the designs of revalutionary engineer Jack Northrop. His “flying wing” design first debuted in 1949 as the YB-49 but was not adopted by the Air Force at the time. The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. The bomber represents a major milestone in the U.S. bomber modernization program and brings massive firepower to bear anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses.

The B-2 provides the penetrating flexibility and effectiveness inherent in manned bombers. Its low-observable characteristics give it the unique ability to penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets. Its capability to penetrate air defenses and threaten effective retaliation provides a strong, effective deterrent and combat force well into the 21st century.

The revolutionary blending of low-observable technologies with high aerodynamic efficiency and large payload gives the B-2 important advantages over existing bombers. Its low-observability provides it greater freedom of action at high altitudes, thus increasing its range and a better field of view for the aircraft's sensors. Its unrefueled range is approximately 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometers).

The B-2's low observability is derived from a combination of reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual and radar signatures. These signatures make it difficult for the sophisticated defensive systems to detect, track and engage the B-2. Many aspects of the low-observability process remain classified, however, the B-2's composite materials, special coatings and flying-wing design all contribute to its "stealthiness."

The B-2 has a crew of two pilots, a pilot in the left seat and mission commander in the right, compared to the B-1B's crew of four and the B-52's crew of five. The first B-2 was publicly displayed on Nov. 22, 1988, when it was rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, Calif. Its first flight was July 17, 1989. The B-2 Combined Test Force, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., is responsible for flight testing the engineering, manufacturing and development aircraft on the B-2.

Whiteman AFB, Mo., is the only operational base for the B-2. The first aircraft, Spirit of Missouri, was delivered Dec. 17, 1993. Depot maintenance responsibility for the B-2 is performed by Air Force contractor support and is managed at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla.

The combat effectiveness of the B-2 was proved in Operation Allied Force, where it was responsible for destroying 33 percent of all Serbian targets in the first eight weeks, by flying nonstop to Kosovo from its home base in Missouri and back. Allegedly it was a B-2 Spirit which dropped the bombs that destroyed the Chinese embassy in Sarajevo.

In support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the B-2 flew one of its longest missions to date from Whiteman to Afghanistan and back. The B-2 completed its first-ever combat deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, flying 22 sorties from a forward operating location as well as 27 sorties from Whiteman AFB and releasing more than 1.5 million pounds of munitions. The aircraft received full operational capability status in December 2003. On Feb. 1, 2009, the Air Force's newest command, Air Force Global Strike Command, assumed responsibility for the B-2 from Air Combat Command.

MANUFACTURER

Northrop Grumman Corp.

POWER PLANT

Four General Electric F118-GE-100 engines

PAYLOAD

40,000 pounds

SPEED

High subsonic

RANGE

Intercontinental

CEILING

50,000 feet (15,240 meters)

ARMAMENT

Conventional or nuclear weapons

CREW

Two pilots

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Russian Aircraft Keep Flying Provocative Around The U.S. and Europe

Why do Russian long-range bombers keep flying close to NATO airspace?  It seems that every other week there is another incident where a NATO member country scrambles its fighters in response to Russian bombers that are flying too close for comfort. Themost recent instance of this happened over two weeks ago, when British typhoons scrambled to intercept Russian Tu-95 bombers.

To understand why this keeps happening, Aviation.com had a conversation with a Russian politics expert.

What follows is an email correspondence held with Andrew S. Bowen.  Bowen is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Boston College. He has a Master’s degree from NYU and is a contributing analyst at the political risk consultancy Wikistrat. He is also a columnist at The Interpreter, and his writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, The National Interest, The Diplomat andThe Daily Beast.

Russian aircraft keep flying provocative sorties around the U.S. and Europe.  NATO says that in 2014 their aircraft have intercepted over three times as many Russian military airplanes as in 2013. What’s going on and why?

The increased sorties are designed for two international audiences and one domestic. The domestic audience sees the return of long range strategic bomber patrols as a return to a lost historical claim to greatness that was lost in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. The sorties are a way of demonstrating that, from the Russian point of view, the period in which the West could take advantage of, and dictate to, Russia is over.

The second audiences are the smaller eastern European members of NATO and the Arctic states. The sorties are increasingly being flown over the Baltic states and are intended to send a message that ultimately boils down this: NATO will not come help you, and we, if we should so choose, can invade and occupy you. In that sense the sorties are meant to both destabilize the smaller member countries of NATO and to also sow discord amongst NATO itself, between the smaller countries nearer Russia that want increased troops presence/security guarantees, and the larger members of NATO who do not see Russia as an immediate threat and are more inclined to diplomatically negotiate with Russia (Italy, Germany etc…).

It is also really designed to assert Russia’s dominance over the arctic and the massive natural resources that global warming is starting to reveal. Russia is building and re-building airfields, search and rescue stations all over the arctic along with creating specially designed arctic warfare units, icebreakers and even a new military command to oversee the arctic. This is making Nordic countries like Finland, Sweden and Norway extremely nervous.

This turn in perception was driven not only by events internationally but domestically as well. The protests against his return to the presidency in 2011-2012 clearly shook the Kremlin.  The government says the machinations of western NGO’s and democracy promotion are merely covers to overthrow Putin’s rule, not to mention the expansion of NATO. Russia has an acute, and not unwarranted, need for Buffer zones between them and potential adversaries, thus making NATO expansion and the loss of Ukraine untenable. Putin has come to the conclusion that working with the current western-dominated international structure is not in Russia’s benefit and seeks to challenge it.

Additionally, on the back of rising oil prices, Russia has dramatically improved and modernized it military since 2008. It is not at the point where it can defeat the West in a conventional battle, but modern enough that it can show off its new toys, and even launch impressive operations (like Crimea) with the few units that are increasingly becoming modern, professional units (primarily the Naval Infantry, Airborne VDV, and Spetsnaz groupings). Part of the reason to be so aggressive now is the fear of lowered oil prices will diminish Russia’s ability to pressure its neighbors and the international community. I think alot of what is going on has to do with the mentality of we have some capabilities, we need to demonstrate them now while we have them because we may not be able to sustain this momentum in the future.

The U.S. and its allies have been demonstrating their aerial power, and the U.S. has been sending more of its attack aircraft over to Europe. Do you think this is meant to send a message to Russia? How have Western countries responded to increased aerial tensions?  

Most of the aircraft sent to Europe has been in response to Russia, and more importantly to calm our NATO partners disturbed by recent events. Most of the aircraft bombing the Islamic state are based in the Gulf region, from carriers, or also Turkey (although some are flying out of Italy).

Russia, as I mentioned before, has been spending a lot of money to introduce new modern equipment and reform its military from one that largely resembled the Soviet Union and relied on mass mobilization to staff its units and are almost continually undermanned. Despite these efforts and the political and economic support it has gotten, Russia essentially suffers from trying to make its military do everything. Due to its size, it needs an army in the West to fight a technologically advanced enemy, carry out rapid, mobile strikes (Crimea) and deal with smaller countries or insurgencies, and be prepared to fight a massive land war in the East.

The one place that Russia has traditionally excelled is in its airplanes. Russia is gradually replacing its SU-27 fleet with new and more modern Su-30 variants and especially the SU-35 which is a 4++ generation fighter. The SU-35 is a really remarkable fighter that has the ability to seriously challenge any of the warplanes that the West can field, with maybe the exception of the F-22. They are also developing a Mig-35 to replace the older Mig-29’s in service.

Despite these gradual improvements, Russia’s military industrial complex is feeling the strain of meeting all these requirements. It is maxed out at upgrading and increasing the life of older designs, most of which date from the 70’s and 80’s, while trying to produce new viable 5th generation designs.

Russia’s answer to the F-22 and F-35 is the PAK FA. Despite its impressive capabilities on paper, it has run into significant technological struggles and impediments, not to mention the fallout of a dramatically weakened economic outlook that has already had the Russian MOD reduce its planned purchases of the aircraft. Yet much of the excitement and fear over Russia’s “resurgent military” looks at the technical specs and supposes a one-on-one conflict between tanks, planes or ships, and discounts how everything has to work together (this leaves out less sexy aspects like Russia’s severe shortage of tankers for air to air refueling).

The Russian military still relies on mass conscription, leaving it woefully undermanned with competent professional soldiers able to utilize the technologies required in combat today, its designs for its modernization plans are already coming under threat due to a weakened economic climate, the multiple threats it must contend with, command and control shortcomings and a lingering inability to strategically transport units in a timely manner.  These last two things, in addition to posturing against neighboring countries, are what many of the snap exercises are designed to reduce/improve.

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