#Tu 160 bombers upgrade

With the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Tu-160 stationed in Ukraine ended up on the ground and without flight conditions. Although it first flew in December 1981, Tupolev only became operational in 1987 and in a very small number of about two dozen units. The career in service, however, proved to be a disaster. The Russians, however, retained вЂњBlackjackвЂќ as a long-range attack aircraft with nuclear or conventional weapons. In the 1980s, a Tu-160 was a Russian response to the United States that prepared the B-1 bomber years before, but when it came into operation it was a different aircraft from the original design: instead of an altitude bomber it became an attack aircraft at low altitude. With this, the project of the first Russian stealth bomber PAK DA can enter service only at the end of the next decade. The first is expected to be delivered in 2023 and the last one in 2027. The goal of the Air Force is to modernize the current fleet of about 16 units that are in service, but also to manufacture new aircraft in a total order of 50 units, including the ten that have just been purchased. The Russians work on a new turbofan, the Kuznetsov NK-32-2, but they still would not have reached a stage capable of providing reliability to him. In fact, the Russians guarantee that the plane will be practically new, with only the original fuselage, but rumors in Europe point to the contrary, that the Tupolev will have few new parts. However, some say that the copy was not exactly a Tu-160M2 but rather an old version of the model with some new equipment. The first copy of the Tu-160M2 flew at the Kazan airbase, with Putin in the audience.

#Tu 160 bombers upgrade

Now the Russian government has decided to upgrade the supersonic jet with new avionics, more powerful and economical engines that promise to make the bomber, known in the country as вЂњWhite SwanвЂќ, regain its importance. The Russian Defense Ministry announced a few days ago to order 10 units of the Tu-160M2 bomber, a modernized version of the well-known Tupolev aircraft.Д¬reated during the Cold War, the Tu-160 was the largest nuclear bomber in the world, but with the end of the Soviet Union, few units were eventually kept active in the Russian air force.