Alwaght- Russia’s upgraded Tupolev Tu-160M2 strategic bomber will perform its first test flight in February 2018, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reported to President Vladimir Putin during a working meeting on Thursday.
"We plan that the aircraft will be built already in 2019. Serial deliveries should begin in 2023 while we plan to carry out the first flight of the Tu-160M2, which has been rolled out of the workshop today, in February next year," the vice-premier said.
"Everything is fine, just perfect. I congratulate the aircraft builders and I think we will deliver good news to the Defense Ministry [it was the Russian Defense Ministry that insisted on resuming the production of the upgraded Tu-160 aircraft, which had proven its worth as a supersonic bomber]," the Russian president said.
Tupolev Tu-160 long-range heavy strategic bomber – the first one since 1992 – was rolled out of the hangar as Russia resumes production of the world’s largest operational bomber that NATO designates as Blackjack.
Blackjack is largest combat aircraft in the world, with maximum takeoff weight of about 275 tons. It can cover a distance of more than 12,000 kilometers without refueling. The record distance it covered during one flight was 18,000 kilometers, spending more than 24 hours in the air. The bomber is equipped with variable-sweep wings, which it wedges against the fuselage when switching to supersonic speed.
The new Tu-160, which is nicknamed White Swan in Russia, was revealed at the Kazan Aviation Factory, a branch of Moscow-based Tupolev Design Bureau, on Thursday. The aircraft was built, using parts stored since Soviet times, to establish if the factory was capable of resuming serial production of the legendary bombers.
Russia’s military announced the decision to resume production of the Tu-160s in modernized Tu-160M2 variation back in 2015. The serial production of the bombers is likely to begin in early 2020s, with the Defense Ministry planning to purchase at least 50 aircraft. The modernized planes will get new improved engines, also seeing analog onboard equipment replaced with digital hardware.
