TU-95MS: nuclear triad rocket carrier
Weaponwhich, as we all hope, will never be set in motion, evokes a special relationship to itself, akin to sacred trembling. If an order is received, this aircraft will open the flaps in the lower part of the fuselage and send six missiles with nuclear warheads to the specified addresses. What then will be with this plane, its crew and the whole world, it is better not to think.
The strategic missile carrier Tu-95MS on the deviation circle of the Ramenskoye airfield
Tu-95MS in our press often became known as "Bear." Well, for a mighty car, the name is even where, although it was not in Russia. "Bear" (in English, Bear) plane called them in NATO. There, our aircraft technicians come up with the most exotic code names, but one rule is rigid: the first letter must correspond to the first letter of the name of the class of aircraft. For example, MiG-29 - Fulcrum, because it is a fighter (Fighter), IL-76 - Candid, because it is a transport aircraft (Cargo aircraft). And the letter “B” in the word Bear means Bomber (bomber). So we out of habit call the Tu-95MS bomber. But this is not true. He does not know how to bomb, and there is nowhere to put bombs into it.
Tu-95MS often flies accompanied by fighter jets
In the parade they are fighters of the Russian Air Force, and during combat duty they are fighters of our “probable partners.”
Reach out to america
If you read the Western publications, you can see that the authors speak about aircraft of the 95th family with great respect. And it doesn’t bother anyone that this design, in fact of the post-war years, with turboprop engines, is still in service and is recognized as an effective element of the Russian nuclear triad. True, usually the same Western authors add, not without malice, that the Tu-95 is a very successful development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress (Super Fortress). Indeed, long-range heavy bomber aviation the post-war generation began with the Tu-4 - made by Tupolev Design Bureau using the reverse engineering method of clone B-29.
Unlike the early classic Tu-95, literally bristling with guns, the Tu-95MC,
Like the Tu-142, there are only two paired 23-mm guns located in the stern. Of course, this gun installation does not protect the aircraft from modern air defense systems, and it is better not to join the Tu-95MS air combat.
However, it was impossible to stop on this path. Having air bases not far from the western, southern and eastern borders of the USSR, the Americans could expect to launch bombing attacks on Soviet cities without resorting to aircraft with a transcontinental radius of action, but we really needed them. Therefore, of course, using the design practices of the cloning of the "super-sturdiness", the Tupolevites undertook to carry out Stalin's order to create an aircraft that could reach the United States, bombed and return to the base. An intermediate stage on this path was the long-range Tu-85 bomber - it already guessed the features of the future "Bear", but this car remained experimental. The reason - the piston engines, which made the aircraft extremely slow, and therefore easy prey of the emerging jet fighter aircraft. Only turboprop or turbojet engines could increase speed. Then, at the beginning of the 1950-x, two design bureaus undertook to design an intercontinental strategic bomber: two Tupolevs relied on turboprop engines (the future Tu-95), and Myasischev OKB-23 preferred the turbojet (M-4 bomber). In the same years, Americans developed the eight-engine jet B-52, which replaced the piston giant B-36. Tu-95 made the first flight in the same 1952 year as the B-52. M-4 flew later, but was also put into service, though not for long - the range turned out to be too small. But the design of the Tu-95, along with its overseas counterpart B-52 has been going through its seventh decade. Yes, but when did the Tu-95 stop being a bomber?
[i] Flights "Bear" make nervous politicians of some countries -
it is enough to recall the reaction to the recent passage of the Tu-95MS over the Channel. [/ i]
Update classics
Under the feet is clear and very slippery ice. Affected by unstable winter weather. The snow melts, the water spreads over the concrete, and soon, freezing, it turns into a skating rink. We are at the Ramenskoye airfield in Zhukovsky. The airfield is under the general direction of LII. Gromov, but around this test field a long cluster of branches of famous aviation design bureaus has long been formed. The darkened strip leaves cloudy, saturated with snow. Cold, and low sun broke out above the horizon. In the lateral winter light, the strategic giant looks particularly impressive. Zadran the nose up (firmly featured Tupolev machines), a keel that goes into the sky, powerful engines with twin screws, suspended from long narrow wings. The site at the airfield is the so-called deviation circle. The airfield tractor gradually rolls the plane around in a circle, and vehicles are bustling around the car. On the deviation circle, the navigation equipment is debugged and a magnetic course is set. This is one of the last stages of work on the modernization of the combat vehicle. One after another, “Bears” fly into Zhukovsky, serving the Russian Air Force, and in the famous hangar, remembering Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev himself, the Tu-144 and almost all other vehicles in the KB are being modernized. On the nature of the modernization of the company speak sparingly - for obvious reasons. It is said that the control systems are translated into a “digit” - however, in the cockpit there is still the usual arrow indication. Perhaps in the next stage of modernization, we will see a “glass cabin”. Improved navigation systems, communications, fuel system. It all works for more efficient use of rocket weapons. The only modification of the Tu-95, currently in the ranks of the Air Force - Tu95MS. This is not a bomber. This is a rocket carrier. In the cargo compartment, he carries with him a launch device - a special shaft, to which are attached six air-to-surface cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. It is also worth noting that the Tu-95MS is not exactly the aircraft that was built in the 1950-ies, and not even the very Tu-95.
The cabin still retains its traditional look, but aircraft control systems are being replaced with modern electronic ones.
Gradually, the entire fleet of Tu-95MS is being upgraded. In the 2014 year alone, eight modernized Tu-95MS were handed over to the Russian Air Force, and more than ten would go on board for 2015? 2016 years.
Maritime traditions
1950's were noted in stories not only the emergence of super bombers, but also the tremendous progress of anti-aircraft missile technology and supersonic fighter aircraft. Already by the beginning of the 1960-x, it became clear that the subsonic aircraft would not break through the air defense of the likely enemy to bomb its territory, even despite the six AM-23 twin guns on three rifle installations - at the stern, below and above the fuselage. At the end of the 1950's, the first experimental modifications of the Tu-95 in the missile carrier variant (Tu-95K) appeared - under the X-20 cruise missiles. True, the range of these missiles was low - 600 km.
Tu-95 is equipped with the most powerful in the world serial turboprop engines NK-12 in the latest versions,
developing on 15 000 l. with. Each engine is equipped with two coaxial screws, rotating in different directions. The engine is not only powerful, but also very noisy.
In the 1970, however, cruise missiles of a new generation appeared - the X-55 products of the Dubninsky Raduga Design Bureau, and the task of the turboprop giant was again found. The fact is that these subsonic missiles have a range of up to 2500 km, which allows them to be released far from the enemy’s air defense zone. Further, the rocket goes at low altitude, bending around the folds of the terrain, not appearing on radars: it is extremely difficult to knock it down. Thus, the missile aircraft could become a kind of mobile launch platform, the speed, maneuverability and protection of which would not be crucial. At first, the Tupolevs experimented with the Tu-95 already released, trying to convert them into missile carriers. However, the resource of these aircraft was already small, so it was decided to start a new production line - the Tu-95MS missile carriers. And, interestingly, the basis of the new modification was not the Tu-95 bomber, but the long-range anti-submarine Tu-142M (of course, constructively ascending to the Tu-95). The Tu-95MS were produced for about ten years (from the beginning of the 1980's to the beginning of the 1990's), and now there are several dozen cars in the Air Force formation. Since 2007, when Russia, after a long break, resumed air patrols with long-range aircraft, the Tu-95MS has remained one of the main components of the air part of the nuclear triad.
MKU - multi-position ejection installation -
It is charged with six X-55 air-to-ground missiles. There was a modification of the Tu-95MC, capable of carrying an additional ten missiles on external hangers, however, at present, international treaties prohibit such a weapon option.
The strategic missile carrier Tu-95MS on the deviation circle of the Ramenskoye airfield
Tu-95MS in our press often became known as "Bear." Well, for a mighty car, the name is even where, although it was not in Russia. "Bear" (in English, Bear) plane called them in NATO. There, our aircraft technicians come up with the most exotic code names, but one rule is rigid: the first letter must correspond to the first letter of the name of the class of aircraft. For example, MiG-29 - Fulcrum, because it is a fighter (Fighter), IL-76 - Candid, because it is a transport aircraft (Cargo aircraft). And the letter “B” in the word Bear means Bomber (bomber). So we out of habit call the Tu-95MS bomber. But this is not true. He does not know how to bomb, and there is nowhere to put bombs into it.
Tu-95MS often flies accompanied by fighter jets
In the parade they are fighters of the Russian Air Force, and during combat duty they are fighters of our “probable partners.”
Reach out to america
If you read the Western publications, you can see that the authors speak about aircraft of the 95th family with great respect. And it doesn’t bother anyone that this design, in fact of the post-war years, with turboprop engines, is still in service and is recognized as an effective element of the Russian nuclear triad. True, usually the same Western authors add, not without malice, that the Tu-95 is a very successful development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress (Super Fortress). Indeed, long-range heavy bomber aviation the post-war generation began with the Tu-4 - made by Tupolev Design Bureau using the reverse engineering method of clone B-29.
Unlike the early classic Tu-95, literally bristling with guns, the Tu-95MC,
Like the Tu-142, there are only two paired 23-mm guns located in the stern. Of course, this gun installation does not protect the aircraft from modern air defense systems, and it is better not to join the Tu-95MS air combat.
However, it was impossible to stop on this path. Having air bases not far from the western, southern and eastern borders of the USSR, the Americans could expect to launch bombing attacks on Soviet cities without resorting to aircraft with a transcontinental radius of action, but we really needed them. Therefore, of course, using the design practices of the cloning of the "super-sturdiness", the Tupolevites undertook to carry out Stalin's order to create an aircraft that could reach the United States, bombed and return to the base. An intermediate stage on this path was the long-range Tu-85 bomber - it already guessed the features of the future "Bear", but this car remained experimental. The reason - the piston engines, which made the aircraft extremely slow, and therefore easy prey of the emerging jet fighter aircraft. Only turboprop or turbojet engines could increase speed. Then, at the beginning of the 1950-x, two design bureaus undertook to design an intercontinental strategic bomber: two Tupolevs relied on turboprop engines (the future Tu-95), and Myasischev OKB-23 preferred the turbojet (M-4 bomber). In the same years, Americans developed the eight-engine jet B-52, which replaced the piston giant B-36. Tu-95 made the first flight in the same 1952 year as the B-52. M-4 flew later, but was also put into service, though not for long - the range turned out to be too small. But the design of the Tu-95, along with its overseas counterpart B-52 has been going through its seventh decade. Yes, but when did the Tu-95 stop being a bomber?
[i] Flights "Bear" make nervous politicians of some countries -
it is enough to recall the reaction to the recent passage of the Tu-95MS over the Channel. [/ i]
Update classics
Under the feet is clear and very slippery ice. Affected by unstable winter weather. The snow melts, the water spreads over the concrete, and soon, freezing, it turns into a skating rink. We are at the Ramenskoye airfield in Zhukovsky. The airfield is under the general direction of LII. Gromov, but around this test field a long cluster of branches of famous aviation design bureaus has long been formed. The darkened strip leaves cloudy, saturated with snow. Cold, and low sun broke out above the horizon. In the lateral winter light, the strategic giant looks particularly impressive. Zadran the nose up (firmly featured Tupolev machines), a keel that goes into the sky, powerful engines with twin screws, suspended from long narrow wings. The site at the airfield is the so-called deviation circle. The airfield tractor gradually rolls the plane around in a circle, and vehicles are bustling around the car. On the deviation circle, the navigation equipment is debugged and a magnetic course is set. This is one of the last stages of work on the modernization of the combat vehicle. One after another, “Bears” fly into Zhukovsky, serving the Russian Air Force, and in the famous hangar, remembering Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev himself, the Tu-144 and almost all other vehicles in the KB are being modernized. On the nature of the modernization of the company speak sparingly - for obvious reasons. It is said that the control systems are translated into a “digit” - however, in the cockpit there is still the usual arrow indication. Perhaps in the next stage of modernization, we will see a “glass cabin”. Improved navigation systems, communications, fuel system. It all works for more efficient use of rocket weapons. The only modification of the Tu-95, currently in the ranks of the Air Force - Tu95MS. This is not a bomber. This is a rocket carrier. In the cargo compartment, he carries with him a launch device - a special shaft, to which are attached six air-to-surface cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. It is also worth noting that the Tu-95MS is not exactly the aircraft that was built in the 1950-ies, and not even the very Tu-95.
The cabin still retains its traditional look, but aircraft control systems are being replaced with modern electronic ones.
Gradually, the entire fleet of Tu-95MS is being upgraded. In the 2014 year alone, eight modernized Tu-95MS were handed over to the Russian Air Force, and more than ten would go on board for 2015? 2016 years.
Maritime traditions
1950's were noted in stories not only the emergence of super bombers, but also the tremendous progress of anti-aircraft missile technology and supersonic fighter aircraft. Already by the beginning of the 1960-x, it became clear that the subsonic aircraft would not break through the air defense of the likely enemy to bomb its territory, even despite the six AM-23 twin guns on three rifle installations - at the stern, below and above the fuselage. At the end of the 1950's, the first experimental modifications of the Tu-95 in the missile carrier variant (Tu-95K) appeared - under the X-20 cruise missiles. True, the range of these missiles was low - 600 km.
Tu-95 is equipped with the most powerful in the world serial turboprop engines NK-12 in the latest versions,
developing on 15 000 l. with. Each engine is equipped with two coaxial screws, rotating in different directions. The engine is not only powerful, but also very noisy.
In the 1970, however, cruise missiles of a new generation appeared - the X-55 products of the Dubninsky Raduga Design Bureau, and the task of the turboprop giant was again found. The fact is that these subsonic missiles have a range of up to 2500 km, which allows them to be released far from the enemy’s air defense zone. Further, the rocket goes at low altitude, bending around the folds of the terrain, not appearing on radars: it is extremely difficult to knock it down. Thus, the missile aircraft could become a kind of mobile launch platform, the speed, maneuverability and protection of which would not be crucial. At first, the Tupolevs experimented with the Tu-95 already released, trying to convert them into missile carriers. However, the resource of these aircraft was already small, so it was decided to start a new production line - the Tu-95MS missile carriers. And, interestingly, the basis of the new modification was not the Tu-95 bomber, but the long-range anti-submarine Tu-142M (of course, constructively ascending to the Tu-95). The Tu-95MS were produced for about ten years (from the beginning of the 1980's to the beginning of the 1990's), and now there are several dozen cars in the Air Force formation. Since 2007, when Russia, after a long break, resumed air patrols with long-range aircraft, the Tu-95MS has remained one of the main components of the air part of the nuclear triad.
MKU - multi-position ejection installation -
It is charged with six X-55 air-to-ground missiles. There was a modification of the Tu-95MC, capable of carrying an additional ten missiles on external hangers, however, at present, international treaties prohibit such a weapon option.
Information