Russia restores Soviet-era strategic bomber patrols

[Globetrotter]

Ok, thanks for explanation.

So maybe they also have something new? If they are reopening the lines maybe we get to see that something??

[Webmaster]

Well maybe in the future, coming from Sukhoi. But the Sukhoi T-60S project is still canned and the design is deemed to be infeasible as far as I know.

If a new Russian bomber is born, it's probably not a Tupolev, since the company probably lost all its military aerospace engineers when it started to focus on civil aviation. Tupolev and associated production facilities KAPO (old Tu-160 line) and Aviastar are busy producing Tu-330/Tu-214/Tu-204 airliners. I think we've seen the last of the Tupolev bombers with the Tu-160.

[Webmaster]

Pretty good Reuters report from the Russian perspective. Hopefully this resuming of these missions will finally stop all the talk about the Russian air force being crap and unable to afford to fly. Like I said earlier on this forum, especially long-range aviation is well financed nowadays.

Russian bomber jets resume Cold War sorties

By Dmitry Solovyov
Thu Aug 9, 11:45 AM ET
 


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's strategic bombers have resumed Cold War-style long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and the United States, top generals said on Thursday.

A Russian bomber flew over a U.S. naval base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots who had scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov, head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force.

"It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean, to meet (U.S.) aircraft carriers and greet (U.S. pilots) visually," Androsov told a news conference.

"Yesterday we revived this tradition, and two of our young crews paid a visit to the area of the (U.S. Pacific Naval Activities) base of Guam," he said.

President Vladimir Putin has sought to make Russia more assertive in the world. Putin has boosted defense spending and sought to raise morale in the armed forces, which were starved of funding following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Androsov said the sortie by the two turboprop Tu-95MS bombers, from a base near Blagoveshchensk in the Far East, had lasted for 13 hours. The Tu-95, codenamed "Bear" by NATO, is Russia's Cold War icon and may stay in service until 2040.

"I think the result was good. We met our colleagues -- fighter jet pilots from (U.S.) aircraft carriers. We exchanged smiles and returned home," Androsov said.

Ivan Safranchuk, Moscow office director of the Washington-based World Security Institute, said he saw nothing extraordinary in Moscow sending its bombers around the globe.

"This practice as such never stopped, it was only scaled down because there was less cash available for that," he said.

"It doesn't cost much to flex your muscles ... You can burn fuel flying over your own land or you can do it flying somewhere like Guam, in which case political dividends will be higher."

COLD WAR CAT-AND-MOUSE

The bombers give Russia the capability of launching a devastating nuclear strike even if the nuclear arsenals on its own territory are wiped out.

During the Cold War, they played elaborate airborne games of cat-and-mouse with Western air forces.

Lieutenant-General Igor Khvorov, air forces chief of staff, said the West would have to come to terms with Russia asserting its geopolitical presence. "But I don't see anything unusual, this is business as usual," he said.

The generals said under Putin long-range aviation was no longer in need of fuel, enjoyed better maintenance and much higher wages, a far cry from the 1990s when many pilots were practically grounded because there was no money to buy fuel.

The generals quipped that part of the funding boost was thanks to a five-hour sortie Putin once flew as part of a crew on a supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber, known as the "White Swan" in Russia and codenamed "Blackjack" by NATO.

The current state of Russia's economy, which is booming for the eighth year in a row, has allowed Russia to finance such flights, said Safranchuk from the World Security Institute.

"Maintenance and training are not the most expensive budget items of modern armies. Purchases of new weapons really are."

[alyster]

If Suhkoi's Superjet 100 gets ready, which is as strongly hyped as A380 or B787, Tupolev is going to lose alot to Suhkoi on the airliner market also. Seems like not the brightest future for them. I really don't know too much of the air liners, does Tupolev even have anything new?

[Webmaster]

Well Tupolev also builds the Tu-204/214 medium size airliners. Tupolev also has much more experience with airliners than Sukhoi, so I don't think Sukhoi is the biggest threat to them... Embraer however... And they are working on a new transport, the Tu-330: http://www.tupolev.ru/English/Show.asp?SectionID=123 Bit of a smaller non-military C-17 or jet engined A400M, to replace the An-12 and equivalent.  Should be quite a success, the domestic market for a medium-sized cargo plane alone is pretty big.

[valkyrian]

Just for the record, the Tu-160 wasn't actually a Tupolev's design...it was Myasishchev M-20. So the last Tupolev's bomber was the Tu-22 Backfire....

The T-60 looks like a monster to me, it will be much expensive for the Russian standards....

[Cobra2]

Ok may I ask that why is Russia restoring their bomber patrols? what kind of threat are they getting ready for? or would it just be like an excercise?

[Webmaster]

Just for the record, the Tu-160 wasn't actually a Tupolev's design...it was Myasishchev M-20. So the last Tupolev's bomber was the Tu-22 Backfire....

M-18 actually, but Tupolev OKB developed the paper design into the Tu-160.

Ok may I ask that why is Russia restoring their bomber patrols? what kind of threat are they getting ready for? or would it just be like an excercise?

Read the article I posted, it's about flexing muscles for political purposes, training and morale boosting. It's about power and deterrent. You see how all the press picked up on this! It works. It also works for those CIS states, Russia has power is the message, you don't need to join NATO for security. And intelligence gathering probably as well.

[Cobra2]

Oh ok thanks Webmaster!

[Cobra2]

I read your artical you pasted Webmaster and thats very interesting. So Russia has the funding to buy fuel for jets now?

[Globetrotter]

well, they basically move Europe with gas and petrolleum, so...

[Cobra2]

And would these bombers be carrying bombs? probably a stupid question. I wouldn't think they would as they don't have any intent on offensive actions.