The built from scratch Tu-160M Russian strategic missile carrier made its first flight today, on January 12, 2022, as reported to journalists by the press service of the Rostec Corporation.
“On January 12, the first newly manufactured Tu-160M strategic missile carrier made its first flight from the airfield of the Kazan Aviation Plant – a branch of Tupolev,” Rostec reported.
It is also specified that the flight of the aircraft took place at an altitude of 600 metres and lasted about 30 minutes. According to the General Director of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yuri Slyusar, the percentage of updated and upgraded systems and equipment in the Tu-160M missile carrier reaches 80 per cent.
Slyusar stressed that the Tu-160M is one of the most ambitious and high-tech projects of the aviation industry. According to the specialist, the implementation of this programme required not only the renewal of production facilities but also the creation of a fundamentally new digital environment for working on the project.
“The fundamental importance of today’s event is that the new vehicle is completely built anew, from scratch,” he stressed.
The Tu-160 is the largest supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation. The “White Swan”, as it is unofficially called in Russia, is a Soviet, then Russian supersonic strategic bomber with a variable wing geometry. Along with the Tu-95MS, it forms the basis of the modern fleet of long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It is designed to defeat nuclear and conventional weapons targets in remote areas.
Ru-Main, 12.01.2022
Source: Rostec
