Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Bomber
- Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Bomber Aircraft
- Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Bomber Cockpit
- Russian Bombers
- Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Bomber Jet
Tu-160 BLACKJACK (TUPOLEV) The Tu-160 is a multi-mission strategic bomber designed for operations ranging from subsonic speeds and low altitudes to speeds over Mach 1 at high altitudes.
Tu-160 Tu-22М3 Tu-95МС Tu-214 Tu-204- The Tu-160 Blackjack is the world's largest operational bomber. Dwarfing the similar-looking B-1B, it is the heaviest combat aircraft ever built. Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Long-Range Strategic Bomber Military-Today.com.
- Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber (Nato reporting name of Blackjack) is a variable-sweep wing supersonic strategic missile carrier 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.
Tu-160 missile carrier bomber (NATO codification: Blackjack) is designed to destroy targets in remote geographic areas and deep in the rear of continental theaters of operations. It is the largest supersonic aircraft and variable geometry wing aircraft in the history of military aviation, as well as the world’s heaviest combat aircraft having the highest gross take-off weight among bombers. For its power and grace, Tu-160 was unofficially named “White Swan”.
Design features
Tu-160 is an integrated low-wing configuration aircraft with a variable-swept wing, tricycle landing gear, all-flying tailplane and fin.
High lift devices include slats, double-slotted flaps, spoilers and flaperons are used for roll control. Four engines are mounted in pairs in nacelles in the belly.
Two compartments to accommodate the payload are located in tandem (one after the other). The main materials of the airframe are titanium, heat treated aluminum alloys, steel alloys and composite materials. Tu-160 is equipped with a receptacle of the in-flight refueling system of a hose-cone type.
- In particular, a flight for closed-course distance of 1000 km with payload of 30 tons was performed at an average speed of 1,720 km/h.
- In total, 44 world records are set on Tu-160
Work for intercontinental strategic multimode missile carrier aircraft equipped with long-range cruise missiles was started in Tupolev Experimental Design Bureau in the early 1970s.
Tu-160 aircraft prototype was piloted by test pilot B.I. Veremey during its maiden flight on December 18, 1981. In October 1984, tests of the first production aircraft began. In April 1987, Tu-160 was first supplied to combatant forces of the long-range aviation in the Ukraine. By 2000, 36 Tu-160 aircraft had been produced.
In 2015, a decision was made to restore the production of Tu-160 strategic missile carriers at the Kazan aviation factory named after S.P. Gorbunov. In 2017, a new Tu-160 strategic missile carrier aircraft was built. The first flight of the aircraft was on January 25, 2018.
Russia will on Wednesday land the world’s biggest military aircraft in South Africa, the Tupolev Tu-160 “Blackjack” bomber, in a rare display of cooperation between the defense forces of the two countries.
The two bombers, which are capable of launching nuclear missiles, are the first to ever land in Africa and will be escorted by fighter jets from the South African Air Force when they touch down at the Waterkloof air base in Tshwane, the South African National Defence Force said in a statement. The bombers will arrive at around 4 p.m. and a number of other Russian military aircraft will also land at the site. The bombers had initially been scheduled to land earlier.
“The military-to-military relations between the two countries are not solely built on struggle politics but rather on fostering mutually beneficial partnerships based on common interests,” the SANDF said. Russia’s defense ministry put out a similar statement.
The arrival of the bombers in Africa’s most industrialized nation coincides with Russian President Vladimir Putin hosting an Africa summit this week, the first such event to be organized by Russia. The nation is competing with China and the U.S. for influence in Africa.