Air Weapons

Strategic Bomber (1987)

Tupolev

Tu-160 'Blackjack'

Tu-160 'Blackjack'
Tu-160 'Blackjack'

Known as the 'White Swan' by its pilots as a result of its white anti-flash paint, the Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack' has the distinction of being the world's largest bomber ever designed. Despite an almost identical configuration to the US B-1, the Tu-160 is in fact a much larger aircraft and is optimized as a high-altitude penetration cruise missile platform in contrast to its low-flying US equivalent. Otherwise, airframe design is common with large variable-geometry wings, a horizontal fin mounted slightly up the tail and two pairs of turbofan engines under the inner portions of the wings. The Tu-160 also boasted greater range and almost twice the speed than the B-1 albeit at the cost of a reduced payload which is carried in two lower-fuselage weapons bays with rotary launchers. Nevertheless, the elimination of the B-1's fuselage-mounted weapons capability (due to treaty limitations) means that now the Tu-160 has exceeded it in payload as well. Other features include a fighter-style cockpit, fly-by-wire controls, advanced avionics and a reduced radar cross-section (RCS) which makes it less detectable than the B-1. With production beginning shortly before the collapse of the USSR, only a trickle of Tu-160 were ever built, and many of them were retained for many years by the Ukraine until returned in exchange for debt payment or scrapped in accordance with international disarmament treaties. However, Tu-160s have been more active over the last decade in making strategic flights near NATO borders as well as numerous well-publicized intercontinental flights to Venezuela, a Russian ally. The Tu-160 has been used in combat over Syria, launching Kh-101 missiles from high altitude. Although there are no plans for resuming production, existing Tu-160s will be receiving considerable upgrades over the next decade.

First flown on 19 December 1981, the Tu-160 entered service in limited numbers as the Tu-160 'Blackjack-A' before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Production has since ceased with no other variant produced though many have been upgraded into Tu-160M standard with new weapons and avionics. An even more comprehensive upgrade is known as the Tu-160M2 which aside from more advanced systems, also includes even more reduced observability.

Preceded by:

Tu-22M 'Backfire' (1972)

Succeeded by:

None

Datafile

DesignTu-160
Code NameBlackjack-A
TypeStrategic Bomber
Year1987
Crew4
Dimensions
Length54.10 m
Height13.100 m
Wing Span55.70 m / 35.60 m
Wing Arean/a
Weight
Empty110,000 kg
Loaded267,600 kg
Maximum275,000 kg
Wing Loading763.9 kg/m²
Performance
SpeedMach 2.1
Cruise Speed960 km/h
Ceiling16,000 m
Range12,300 km
Powerplant
Engine4 x NK-321
Kuznetsov
14,000 / 25,000 (+) kgf
Thrust/Weight0.46
Sensors
RadarObzor-K
Armament
Guns-
Payload45,000 kg
Hardpoints2
AS WeaponsKh-15
Kh-55/101
Production
Builtn/a
Total36

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