Tupolev Tu160 Blackjack

Tu160 Blackjack

The Tu160 is the Russian answer to the B1. And what an answer it is! 20% larger than the B1 the Tu160 is the heaviest and largest combat aircraft ever built. It has a higher maximum top speed (of over Mach 2), a larger unrefueled combat radius, lower rating of drag and according to some reports it has a lower radar cross section. Common to the B1 are the low mounted variable geometry wings, large dorsal fin and the positioning of the engines.

The first flight was on December 18, 1981. Three weeks prior to this, the Tu-160 had been photographed by a US reconnaissance satellite and was assigned the designation RAM-P and then the name Blackjack.

The project was considered one of high importance and the Politburo pushed it through by providing sufficent funding and resourses. Even then there were a number of problems. Due to the urgancy tooling had started before even the flight trials had begun. Due to this not everything was as refined as it should have been when production started. They suffered a number of probles after delivery and were grounded for a large amount of time before they could be put on operational duty.

While the B1b had a major redesign of the air intakes to increse it's stealth the Tu160 relied on the design of the engines. The redesign of the B1's intakes reduces the aircraft's top speed to the point where it is now in reality a transonic aircraft as opposed to a true supersonic aircraft (please correct me if I am wrong). The Tu160 was designed for speed and no concessions were made with the air intakes. To reduce the radar signature the first stage of the compressor was designed in a way and with the particular materials to reduce radar reflection.

The Blackjack's mission profile is a high speed high altitude penetration with a low level contour-hugging dash to the target.

After the break up of the Soviet Union, Russia was left with only 5 Tu160s, the remaining 19 operational aircraft were based in the Ukraine and when they declared independance, Ukraine took over ownership of all military hardware on it's soil. It is unclear as to exactly what has happened to them. There has been some confusion as to their final destination. Negotiations between Russia and the Ukraine over the return of the Tu160s and some 20+ Tu-142s in exchange for some of Ukraine's energy debts took place. The deal finalised in 1995 but not implemented immediatly. One report stated that it finally took place at the end of 1996 and that at persent there are 16 Tu160s in Russia on 24hr alert, the remaining 8 being in repair rotations. But since then I have read and had conversations with others that the Tu-160s in question are still in the Ukraine and that Russia is unlikely to want them as they are difficult to repair and are already in a poor state.

Fourty Tu160s were manufactured and the remainder are being used for scientific research around Russia. There have been a number of commercial suggestions recently for the aircraft including the launch of low orbit sattelites. This would be a cheap option as opposed to expendable rockets. Other suggestions have been very inapproperiate such as the conversion to an airliner!

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Copyright © 1996 Andrew Juniper