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Russia's defense industry

Russia's Tu-160M ‘White Swan’ strategic bomber takes to skies in first post-upgrade flight

During the flight, the bomber’s pilots performed maneuvers to check the aircraft’s stability and control in the air, the operating capacity of its systems and engines and onboard radio-electronic equipment

Tu-160M United Aircraft Corporation Press Office/TASS

Tu-160M

© United Aircraft Corporation Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Another Tupolev Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber took to the skies for the first time after its upgrade, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) reported on Monday.

"Another upgraded Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber developed by the Tupolev Company (part of the UAC within the state tech corporation Rostec) performed its debut flight," the UAC press office said in a statement.

During the flight, the bomber’s pilots performed maneuvers to check the aircraft’s stability and control in the air, the operating capacity of its systems and engines and onboard radio-electronic equipment, it said.

The Tu-160M (NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is an upgraded version of the Tu-160 bomber developed in the Soviet era and dubbed "the White Swan" among pilots. Along with the Tu-95MS bombers, these planes are the mainstay of the Russian Aerospace Force’s long-range aviation. The Tu-160M is the largest supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation and the world’s heaviest warplane capable of carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The Tu-160 was engineered in response to the Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber developed in the United States.

In April 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu handed down an order to resume the production of Tu-160 bombers from scratch. The aircraft had to be heavily upgraded compared to the operational aircraft, which actually meant creating a new combat plane. The decision to restart the production of Tu-160 bombers was prompted, among other things, by the need to create a fundamentally new next-generation strike aircraft platform.

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Russian defense industry

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