Eva Elfie
Tu-160 Photo from the site of the company "Tupolev"
Moscow. 10th of March. INTERFAX-AVN - The first deeply modernized Tu-160M strategic missile-bomber with NK-32 engines of the second series is entering a new stage of testing, the press service of Rostec reports.
"The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) of the Rostec State Corporation handed over for preliminary tests the first modernized Tu-160M missile carrier with new NK-32 02 series engines (manufactured by the United Engine Corporation, UEC)," the press service said on Wednesday.
"The aircraft has successfully passed factory tests. Today the new missile carrier has been transferred to the Tupolev flight test base for preparation for the next stage of flights - preliminary tests," Rostec said.
The state corporation noted that the plane had already been relocated from the Kazan aircraft plant to the airfield in Zhukovsky. The flight under the direction of test pilot Anri Naskidyants "passed in the normal mode,
As Interfax reported, after a 10-year hiatus, the production of the Tu-160 White Swan strategic missile-carrying bombers, which are the air component of the nuclear triad, is being restored at the Kazan Aviation Plant (a Tupolev branch, part of the UAC).
It was noted that outwardly the new aircraft will not differ from the basic Tu-160, but at the same time its combat capabilities will significantly increase, including by expanding the range of weapons. In addition, a new series of NK-32 engines is being made for this aircraft, which will increase the flight range of the "strategists" by 1 thousand km.
On January 25, 2018, a state contract was signed between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Tupolev company for the supply of the first batch of Tu-160M "strategists" - it provides for the creation of 10 aircraft worth 15 billion rubles each. Earlier, the RF Ministry of Defense announced plans to order 50 of these vehicles.
The first experimental Tu-160M "Igor Sikorsky", created on the basis of a combat aircraft, took off on February 2, 2020.
Currently, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are armed with 16 Tu-160 aircraft. According to the plans of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, all of them will undergo a deep modernization in the form of the Tu-160M.
Tu-160 is a supersonic strategic missile carrier-bomber with variable sweep wing, developed at the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1970s-1980s. It is designed to destroy the most important targets deep behind enemy lines with nuclear and conventional weapons. It is capable of carrying 12 cruise missiles on board, all weapons are located inside the fuselage. In Russia, the Tu-160 for its grace is called the "White Swan", according to the NATO codification - Blackjack ("Blackjack").
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