Whether it was ultimately a coincidence or related to the fate of the “New Start” nuclear weapons treaty, which was still in limbo at the time, we don’t know. But no matter what the motivation behind it was, the Russian Ministry of Defense recently published brand-new photos of its three bomber types of the so-called long-range air force (ADD, Авиация Дальнего Действия), on which the primary nuclear weapons can be seen in “western style” in front of the aircraft.

The images are part of a larger image package uploaded by the Ministry of Defense on November 6, 2020, showing similarly staged frontal views of the three bomber types with which the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are currently equipped. These are the Tu-160M (NATO: Blackjack), Tu-95MS (NATO: Bear-H) and Tu-22M3 (NATO: Backfire-C). Each of the three missile carriers – all developed by the Tupolev design bureau – presents a fairly complete selection of its potential weapon loads. However, there are also some “gaps”. @Russian MoDTu-160M
In front of the supersonic swing-wing aircraft – the Russians call it the most powerful fighter in the world – are two rows of subsonic cruise missiles. The rear row consists of twelve subsonic cruise missiles of the X-55SM type (NATO: AS-15 Kent), a well-known weapon that has its roots in the 1970s and – via Ukraine – has already served China and Iran as a template for their own cruise missiles. The control surfaces of the turbofan-powered missile are folded away and two conformal fuel tanks are fitted to extend the range to around 2,900 kilometers. Some of the X-55SMs have been converted to the non-nuclear X-555Sch (NATO: AS-22 Kluge), but the ones seen here appear to be nuclear-armed X-55SMs, as they lack the front stabilizing fins of the conventional version.

@Russian MoDCloser to the camera, there are another dozen much more modern subsonic cruise missiles X-101/102 on trollies. This new generation weapon was developed from the beginning in both variants, the non-nuclear X-101 (NATO: AS-23A Kodiak) and the nuclear version X-102 (AS-23B). Like the X-55SM, the missiles are powered by turbofan engines. According to Russian colleagues, the maximum range of the X-101 missile is 3,000 kilometers, while the nuclear missile can fly up to 4,000 kilometers. The conventional version went into series production in 2010/11 and was used by both the Tu-160M and Tu-95MS during the Russian campaign in Syria. The Tu-160M can only carry its weapons internally in two tandem bays, each containing a rotary launcher that can carry six each, i.e. a total of twelve X-55s or 12 X-101/102s. @Russian MoDTu-95MS
A similar bomber veteran to the US B-52 are the turboprop aircraft of the 68-year-old Tu-95 series (NATO: Bear), here in the latest version Tu-95MS (Bear-H). The NK-12 propeller turbines, which drive the counter-rotating 8-blade propellers with a diameter of 5.6 meters, each produce 15,000 shaft horsepower and, at around 900 km/h, are still the fastest turboprop aircraft in the world today.

What is perhaps less well known here is an Austrian connection, namely that the NK-12 is the work of the Viennese engineer Ferdinand Brandtner, who was deported to Russia in 1945 as a designer at the Junkers engine works and was employed for years at the Kuznetsov design office (see book tip). The Bear series was also extended to conventional ammunition after the end of the Cold War for greater flexibility, so here we see the same types of weapons as on the Tu-160M, albeit with different numbers: six X-55SMs and eight X-101/102s. Internally, the Tu-95 can only carry six missiles in a bomb bay on the rotary launcher, so four twin launchers were mounted under the wings on the H-model. Therefore, the newer X-101/102, which were too large for the bomb bay, are now also possible. @Russian MoDTu-22M3
Last to be shown is the Tu-22M3 (NATO: Backfire-C) with medium range, another supersonic swing-wing design. Only free-fall armament options were presented here, including a pair of huge FAB-3000 general-purpose bombs weighing three tons each, followed by progressively smaller – including streamlined – weapons, as well as two different types of flat-fronted general-purpose bombs weighing 500 kilograms. Additional bombs are mounted on the external beams of the Backfire under the fixed part of the wings. All of these bombs date back to the Cold War era and reflect the fact that the vast majority of ordnance used by the VKS is still unguided. This was also evident in the Syrian war, where, after the initial use of precision munitions, more and more “stupid” free-fall munitions were seen, even on modern tactical types such as the Su-34 (NATO: Fullback).

@Russian MoDSurprisingly, the Tu-22M3’s missile armament was not shown. The Backfire-C can carry a maximum of three, but usually one or two, of the massive X-22 missile, known to NATO as the AS-4 Kitchen, which went into production in the late 1960s. This delta-winged weapon, which is powered by a liquid-fuel rocket engine, can be used against both high-value solid-base targets and – Tu-22Ms fly in the naval air force – also against warships. With more than Mach 4 on final approach, the system remains a problem for air defense systems despite its age. It can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead and has a maximum range of just over 500 kilometers. It is now being replaced by the outwardly similar X-32, whose range has been extended to around 880 kilometers. It should be noted that, unlike the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS, the Backfire was not covered by the launch contract in terms of the total number of bomber fleets permitted. Before the now realistic continuation of the contract (see report), it was expected that the Tu-22M3’s air-to-air refueling capability, which had been expanded in the meantime, would be restored to give it a real strategic range. @VKS RossijPAK-DA
In addition to the aforementioned modernization of existing fighter aircraft – some of which have been in service for a long time – Russian design offices are also working in parallel on future new models. These include the new PAK-DA stealth bomber, which, like its US counterpart, the B-21, should be able to penetrate well-defended airspace and not be detected or be detected very late. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Military-Industrial Complex, Yuri Borisov, said in 2019 that the PAK-DA bomber could enter service between 2025 and 2030. It is to be produced in batches and replace the three bomber types described above. A contract to build a prototype was already signed in April 2017, and the development contract for a new engine was already signed in 2014. Tupolev has reportedly already built a 1:1 wooden model of the PAK-DA, and there are also various airbrush drawings, all of which show different configurations. In principle, they all show a flying wing aircraft with four engines and a cockpit for three or four crew members. However, there is also a lot of fantasy in this, as elements such as vertically protruding winglets would result in highly dubious stealth characteristics. In addition, Tupolev is currently modernizing the Tu-160M fleet to the Tu-160M2 standard and some of these bombers are even being rebuilt. It is therefore difficult to say whether Russia has sufficient human, financial and material resources to implement two such major bomber programs in parallel. By way of comparison, a semi-official look at the upcoming Chinese H-20 strategic stealth bomber could be permitted for the first time as early as this year.

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