The second Tu-160M bomber of new construction and the fourth modernized aircraft were rolled out
December 30th, 10:22 pm
PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC UAC) announced on December 30, 2022 that two regular Tu-160M strategic missile carriers developed by PJSC Tupolev (part of PJSC United Aircraft Corporation of Rostec State Corporation) were transferred for flight tests. This is the first aircraft mass-produced under the Tu-160M reproduction program and a combat aircraft that has undergone a deep modernization.
Rolled out at the Kazan Aviation Plant (KAZ) named after S.P. Gobunov - a branch of Tupolev PJSC, the fourth model of the Tu-160 strategic bomber that has been upgraded to the level of Tu-160M. The remnants of the image of the flag of the Russian Air Force are visible on the bow, which was previously part of the coloring of the Tu-160 combat bombers. Kazan, December 2022 (c) United Aircraft Corporation PJSC.
The flight test station will carry out the necessary tests of aircraft systems and engines, as well as avionics. After that, the aircraft will be transferred to the operating organization.
“The Tu-160 is the most important part of the Russian nuclear triad, so the modernization of combat vehicles and the resumption of production of these strategic bombers is our priority task. The updated missile carriers surpass their predecessors in their characteristics, they received new on-board radio-electronic equipment, NK-32-02 engines and other systems. In the coming years, the production of these machines will increase,” said Sergey Chemezov, General Director of Rostec State Corporation.
From the side of bmpd, we point out that, in this way, as you can understand, at the Kazan Aviation Plant (KAZ) named after S.P. Gobunov, a branch of Tupolev PJSC in Kazan, the second Tu-160M strategic bomber of the new construction and the fourth model of the Tu-160 strategic bomber upgraded to the Tu-160M level were pumped out and transferred to the flight test station of the plant. Their first flights, apparently, have not yet taken place.
Recall that on January 25, 2018, the Ministry of Defense of Russia in the presence of the President of Russia V.V. Putin signed in Kazan with PJSC Tupolev a contract worth 160 billion rubles for the construction until 2027 of ten new Tu-160M bombers (also sometimes referred to as Tu-160M2). The first (experimental) Tu-160M bomber built under this contract (serial number 8-05) was made from a backlog left over from Soviet times and made its first flight in Kazan on January 12, 2022, still unpainted.
On December 30, 2022, the UAC issued a press release in which it announced that in December the next flight of the first newly manufactured prototype of the Tu-160M strategic missile carrier took place and that the factory test program was completed on the aircraft. “As part of the flight, maneuvers were performed to check the stability and controllability of the aircraft in the air, the performance of aircraft systems and engines, as well as on-board radio-electronic equipment.” Judging by the photographs circulated at the same time, the first built Tu-160M has already received almost full color.
Now it has been announced that the second Tu-160M aircraft built at KAZ under the contract in 2018 will be rolled out. This aircraft is believed to have serial number 9-01.
As for the program for upgrading the already manufactured Tu-160 bombers to the level of Tu-160M, the first prototype of the modernized Tu-160M strategic bomber was converted from a combat bomber with serial number 4-05 and the name "Igor Sikorsky", which previously had tail number "14 " and registration number RF-94103. The aircraft made its first flight after the completion of the re-equipment at the Kazan Aviation Plant on February 2, 2020. Then, new engines NK-32 series 02 (NK-32-02) were installed on the aircraft for testing, the first flight with which at the KAZ airfield was made on November 3, 2020. After the completion of the flight test phase, this aircraft flew on March 10, 2021 to continue testing from Kazan to the flight test and development base of Tupolev PJSC in Zhukovsky.
The second aircraft upgraded to the level of Tu-160M, apparently, was a bomber with serial number 4-01 and the name "Boris Veremey" (previously had tail number "09"). This aircraft with the new registration number RF-94444, immediately equipped with new NK-32 series 02 (NK-32-02) engines, began flight tests in September 2021.
The third aircraft upgraded to the Tu-160M level (serial number unknown) made its first flight in Kazan in December 2022. Now the fourth aircraft, which has completed the modernization to the level of the Tu-160M, has been rolled out. It is unpainted and its serial number is also unknown, however, the remnants of the image of the Russian Air Force flag, which previously adorned Tu-160 combat bombers, are visible on the nose. It is possible that one of these aircraft is a board with the name "Valentin Bliznyuk" (serial number 2-02, previously had tail number "19" and registration number RF-94113), which has been at KAZ since March 2016.
ПАО Объединенная авиастроительная корпорация (ПАО ОАК) 30 декабря 2022 года сообщило , что на лётные испытания переданы два очередных стратегических ракетоносца Ту-160М, разработанных ПАО Туполев (входит в ПАО Объединенная авиастроительная…
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