On February 21, Russia's Kazan Aviation Plant delivered four high-profile Tu-160M strategic bombers, nicknamed "White Swans", to the Russian Aerospace Forces and are ready for mass production.
Powered by the NK-32-02 engine, this aircraft not only requires less maintenance, but is also capable of providing excellent flight performance and endurance. The Tu-160M is also armed with a variety of new types **, the most notable of which are the Kh-101 102 cruise missiles.
The Tu-160 has two bomb bays, each capable of carrying a 20,000 kg free-fall bomb, or launching a nuclear ** in a rolling bay. In comparison, even the B-1B bomber could only carry 6,100 kg if it was willing to sacrifice handling and stealth and carry an external bomb**, while the Tu-160 still carried 39% more bombs than the B-1B even with external ammunition.
Therefore, it can be said that the largest heavy bomber in the world at the moment is none other than the Tu-160. And the modernized and upgraded version of the Tu-160, the Tu-160M2, has been replaced with new avionics and ** systems, which can carry conventional **, such as 90 OFAB-500U.
Putin personally went to the Kazan aircraft plant to inspect the modernized Tu-160M strategic missile bombers and greeted the delivery of these four aircraft. He visited the production line of the Kazan Aviation Plant and inspected three Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bombers undergoing overhaul. Putin even climbed into the cockpit of one of the planes and sat in the driver's seat.
The delivery of these four strategic bombers will once again improve the long-range bombing capabilities of the Russian army, because according to open data, there are only 16 Tu-160 bombers currently in service. In the past, due to a shortage of upstream components, the modernized version of this model has been slowly advanced, with only one or two deliveries per year. But since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian aviation industry seems to have suddenly found inspiration, this time paying four at a time, and plans to start mass production of the model from this year, and the speed of its production capacity increase is remarkable.
This delivery of Tu-160M strategic bombers marks an important Russian advance in the military sphere. What do you think about the development of a new generation of strategic bombers in Russia?