Tu-160 - Combat
The missile carriers received their baptism of fire during the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria: in November 2015, several vehicles launched attacks with Kh-555 and Kh-101 missiles on targets of IS militants*. All targets were successfully hit. Subsequently, the aircraft were repeatedly used in the Syrian campaign. Tu-160s regularly patrol neutral waters near Russian borders.
After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine owned the world’s largest fleet of Tu-160 strategic bombers. By 2022 the strategic bombers transferred by Ukraine to Russia over two decades ago were hitting it with missiles. Under the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world at that time, to transfer nuclear warheads to Russia in exchange for “security guarantees” and to destroy nuclear missile carriers. All ballistic missiles, Tu-160 and Tu-95, were also transferred.
A distinctive feature of the special military operation in Ukraine was the massive use of long-range precision weapons deployed on ships, submarines and long-range bombers. The Russian military department has repeatedly reported about group strikes against important targets of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), military industrial facilities and infrastructure.
Russian Tu-160 supersonic strategic missile-carrying bombers received new Kh-BD cruise missiles with a range of over 6.5 thousand km. This is stated in a video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense. On the purpose of long-range weapons of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of the Russian Federation, which are regularly used to destroy important targets during the special military operation (SVO).
“Strategic range is a range that starts from 5.5 thousand km. <...> Considering that a strategic aircraft itself can be in the air for many, many hours - it all depends on the fatigue of the crew, on the human qualities of the crew members,” and can refuel in the air, then it can fly to any range,” military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin explained. He also recalled that a new strategic bomber is currently being created in Russia, which will have a subsonic flight speed.
Military expert, editor of the Arsenal of the Fatherland publication Alexei Leonkov noted that Russia is using long-range bombers for the first time since World War II. “Until this time, our strategic aviation acted as a deterrent”. At the same time, he said, the United States used such aircraft in many of its military operations around the world. “This, for example, is the use of B-52 bombers in the wars against Vietnam, in all wars in the Persian Gulf against Iraq, against Libya, Serbia. [The stealth bomber] B-2, another component of US strategic aviation, was actively used to strike in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Leonkov recalled.
The main striking force of strategic missile carriers, as the name implies, is missile weapons. The Tu-160M is capable of carrying 12 long-range cruise missiles in two drum launchers inside the fuselage, and its maximum payload weight is 45 tons. The Tu-95MS bomb bay can accommodate up to six ammunition.
Technically, the long-range air-to-surface cruise missile is a disposable aircraft-type jet drone. What allows it to stay in the air is the lift created by a small-area wing, and the thrust is provided by a small-sized turbojet engine. The munition has an on-board navigation system and flies according to the flight mission entered before launch.
Russian strategic bombers can use several types of cruise missiles. The newest of them is the X-BD, which was demonstrated to the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, who visited Russia from 12 to 17 September 2023, during his visit to the Knevichi airfield in Primorye. The appearance of the new product was not disclosed, but the commander of long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, said that its range exceeds 6.5 thousand km.
“This range is intended to ensure that the aircraft does not enter the coverage area of the enemy’s air defense system. So that it can hit a target without entering this zone,” Litovkin said, noting that Russian “strategists” used missiles of this class to reach warehouses, storage bases for military equipment and fuels and lubricants even in the rear regions of Ukraine. Long-range cruise missiles travel to targets at subsonic speeds. According to Leonkov, this decision is due to the fact that the range of use of ammunition is of paramount importance.
Another strategic cruise missile, the X-101, confirmed its effectiveness in combat conditions, destroying targets of international terrorist groups during the Syrian operation of the Russian Armed Forces. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the high-precision munition is designed using stealth technologies, making the missile “virtually invisible to any air defense systems.” The flight range of the X-101 is 4.5 thousand km, and the accuracy of hitting a target is several meters.
The editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, Viktor Murakhovsky, stated that the missile uses a combined guidance system, including inertial and optical-electronic. “It (the missile) can receive complex information both along the route and the coordinates of the target. Unlike previous generation missiles, it is possible to fundamentally retarget the missile to another object. Control points of the route are programmed, as well as targets that the missile can hit, and then it is possible to change the target during a combat mission,” he explained, adding that the on-board systems are made of Russian components. According to the expert, previous generations of such missiles used products from former USSR countries.
Russian strategic aviation also used the X-555 long-range air-to-surface cruise missile. This is a modification of the X-55 missile, in which the nuclear warhead is replaced with a conventional one in various versions: high-explosive fragmentation, penetrating for the destruction of fortified structures, and also cassette. According to data from open sources, the missile has modernized on-board equipment, and it can navigate not only using the inertial system and signals from navigation satellites, but also using an image of the area. All this makes it possible to hit targets with an accuracy of 5–10 m. The ammunition was also used by the Russian Aerospace Forces during the operation in Syria . The X-555 can be equipped with additional conformal (closely adjacent to the fuselage) fuel tanks, which allows it to hit targets at a distance of 2.5 thousand km.
Western sanctions, designed to complicate the work of the Russian military-industrial complex (DIC), as well as the widespread use of high-precision missile weapons during the Special Military Operation, gave rise to foreign officials and military experts to declare the devastation of Russian arsenals. However, the intensity of strikes by the Russian Armed Forces was not decreasing.
Since the beginning of the special operation, enterprises of the domestic defense industry have multiplied the production of military equipment and ammunition. The Tactical Missiles Corporation (KTRV), which produces long-range aircraft missiles, is fulfilling the order of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to double production volumes. In addition, gunsmiths switched to serial production of the latest types of weapons, previously produced in pilot batches.
"The continuation of Russian strikes into 2023 has made it clear that it is unrealistic to expect that Russia will ever 'run out' of missiles. Despite sanctions and export controls, it appears likely that Russia will be able to continue to produce or otherwise obtain long-range weapons," says an article with the eloquent title “Russia’s Missiles Are Not Going to Run Out,” published by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS in June 2023.
On the morning of December 5, 2022, explosions occurred at the airbases of the Russian Aerospace Forces "Engels" near Saratov and "Dyagilevo" on the outskirts of Ryazan , and on the morning of December 6 there was a fire in the area of the airfield in Kursk . The occupiers accused Ukraine.
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