1. Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bombers
2. Tupolev Tu 160 Blackjack Wiki
3. Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Bombers
4. Russian Tupolev Tu 160 Blackjack

The first Tupolev Tu-160M, M as modernized, flew on February 2, 2020. The four-jet engine took off from the Kazan aeronautical plant airport for a flight lasting 34 minutes.

• Photo of Russia - Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-160 (RF-94102) taken in Kubinka, Russia on 2018-06-00 by Javi Sanchez Utzet of AirTeamImages.com.
• A Tupolev Tu-160 with Soviet officers in front, September 1989 In April 1987, the Tu-160 entered operational service with the 184th Guards Heavy Bomber Regiment located at Pryluky Air Base, Ukrainian SSR. The regiment previously operating Tu-16 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers became the first unit that received the Tu-160.
• Soviet officers in front of a Tupolev Tu-160 in September 1989 Squadron deployments to Long Range Aviation began in April 1987 before the Tu-160 was first presented to the public in a parade in 1989. In 1989 and 1990 it set 44 world speed flight records in its weight class.
• National Security Russia Dispatching Blackjack Bombers to Venezuela Nuclear-capable jets to bolster leftist Maduro regime. A Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic long-range heavy supersonic bomber.

Note: 'White Swan' The arrival of the Blackjacks into Kloof after a nail biting week of chasing them and waking up at 4am daily!! This has to be my top subject I've ever photographed. And in my hometown!

The first modernized Tu-160 'Blackjack' took off for the first time on February 2 from Kazan Aeronautical Plant Airport for a 34-minute flight with the landing gear out. The crew of Tupolev's flight test base at Zhukovsky reported that the aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 1,500 meters (4,920 feet) and performed well. The Tu-160M ​​bomber that carried out this first flight is in fact the former Tu-160 bomber 'Igor Sikorsky' (n°14, red color), named after a famous Russian like all the rest of the fleet of Tu-160 in service.

The newly manufactured Tu-160 and the improved versions will not be different from each other, but they have received different names from the Ministry of Defense: Tu-160M ​​for the enhanced aircraft and Tu-160M2 for the new bombers that are not rebuilt from aircraft and/or cells dating from the Soviet era.

The Tu-160M ​​features, among other things, the latest electronic warfare suite, an advanced communications system with enhanced jamming resistance, and weapons that will increase its abilities.

Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bombers

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”.

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.

Tupolev Tu 160 Blackjack Wiki

• 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

Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack Bombers

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.

Russian Tupolev Tu 160 Blackjack

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.