KAZAN, June 25. /TASS/. Russia’s upgraded Tupolev Tu-22M3M and Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bombers will get a new short-range navigation system for landing and mid-air refueling integrated with the glass cockpit, Chief Designer of Radiopribor Company Yevgeny Glebov told reporters on Thursday.
"As their specific feature, these aircraft will get the glass cockpit. All the systems are digitized, complying with certain GOSTs [state technical standards]. We are finalizing our apparatus [the navigation system] for these GOSTs in terms of interaction with the equipment and providing digital outputs for interfacing with the glass cockpit," the chief designer said.
The company has already produced the first navigation systems for the latest aircraft, the chief designer said. "The factory produced two systems for Tu-22 planes. They are now undergoing flight trials. And it is making three systems for Tu-160s," he said.
The navigation system produced by the Kazan-based company is designed to detect an aerial refueling tanker and make two planes reach the designated point for mid-air refueling.
"The task of our equipment is to show where and at what distance an aerial refueling tanker is from a combat plane," the chief designer explained.