Russia has resumed production of its most modern strategic bomber, the Tu-160 (NATO designation Blackjack). The first newly built aircraft of this type, which was already used in Soviet times, completed its maiden flight from the airfield of the Kazan aviation company, 600 km east of Moscow. The plane was in the air at an altitude of 600 m for about half an hour. The machine is not just a replica of the old Blackjacks, but, according to official information, a completely modernized version that bears the name Tu-160M.
The Tu-160 was designed as a supersonic variable-sweep wing bomber to carry strategic missiles and was developed at the Tupolev design office in the 1970s and 1980s. It is designed to destroy targets deep behind enemy lines with nuclear and conventional weapons. The bomber can carry twelve cruise missiles. All weapons are housed in the fuselage.
As it is said, the production facilities in Kazan were extensively modernized to build the new machine. According to Denis Manturov, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, the modernization plan also included the renewal of workshop equipment. According to him, “the world’s largest facility for electron beam welding and vacuum annealing of titanium” was put into operation. The entire aircraft production has therefore been completely digitalized.
Nach Angaben des Vorstandsvorsitzenden der United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yury Slyusar, ist das Werk zu etwa 50 Prozent modernisiert worden. Dadurch sei es möglich gewesen, 80 Prozent der Systeme und Ausrüstungen der Tu-160M zu aktualisieren.
The Tu-160M upgrade package therefore includes modern avionics, including control equipment, a strapdown inertial navigation system, electronic warfare equipment, fuel metering and flow measurement systems, and weapons control systems. The aircraft also received new NK-32-02 engines. These will be manufactured under two long-term contracts in 2021 between UAC and United Engines Corporation (UEC). The installation of the new engines is said to have increased the aircraft's range by 1,000 km.
The current fleet of Tu-160 aircraft, referred to as “White Swans” in Russia, consists of only 17 aircraft. In 2017, Yuri Borisov, then deputy defense minister and now deputy prime minister, announced plans to purchase about 50 modernized Tu-160 bombers, with annual production of three to four aircraft starting in 2021. However, the program appears to be behind schedule. So far, the official state order for only ten new Tu-160M worth 160 billion rubles was signed in January 2018. The estimated unit cost for each upgraded Blackjack is around $270 million.
Russian experts believe that in the future the Tu-160's armament will also include long-range air-to-surface missiles, including hypersonic missiles. The Tu-160s were tested to remotely destroy facilities during the Russian operation in Syria. It looks as if white swans will also become native to the Russian Arctic in the future.
Yuri Laskin
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