The difficult fate of the Tu-160 (part of 1)
Tu-160 - one of the few, if not the only combat aircraft of the USSR, information about which leaked to the press a few years before its construction. Back in the 70s during the SALT-2 negotiations, Leonid Brezhnev mentioned that a new heavy bomber was being designed in the Soviet Union as opposed to the US B-1. No other details, besides the fact that it will be produced by an aircraft factory specially reconstructed for this purpose in Kazan, have been reported.
A few years have passed. 25 November 1981. the aircraft was being prepared for testing at the LII aerodrome in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow (Ramenskoye). The car was on the gas platform next to the two Tu-144. In such an environment, she was captured on the first photo published in the West. The press speculated that the plane was deliberately, for propaganda purposes, was placed under the lenses of American reconnaissance satellites (it was assumed that the picture was taken from space). The reality turned out to be much more prosaic: the picture was taken by one of the passengers on the plane, which was boarding the Bykovo airfield located nearby. Since its publication, the bomber has received the code name Ram-P (Ram - from the name Ramenskoye) and the NATO code - Blakjack. Under these names, the world presented the heaviest bomber of all time.
Creation
History Tu-160 originates in 1967. During the competition for the strategic bomber, which was supervised by the commander of the Far Aviation (YES) Colonel-General V.V. Reshetnikov, the first to appear were the design bureaus of the Design Bureau of P.O. Sukhoi (T-4MS) and V.M. Myasishchev (M-20). However, Sukhoi Design Bureau, not without pressure from the Air Force Commander-in-Chief P.S. Kutakhov, soon concentrated its efforts on its traditional products - fighters and tactical attack aircraft. At the second stage, A.N. Tupolev Design Bureau joined the competition with the Tu-160 project. "Firma" Myasishcheva came up with a new development - the M-18, but once again the revived team did not have real strength to implement such a large-scale program. Therefore, despite the sympathy for M-18 from V.V. Reshetnikov, the winner of the competition was the Tupolev team.
Its success was largely predetermined by previous developments of Tupolevs in heavy bomber aviation and the availability of a suitable production base, which the rivals did not have, therefore the project competition itself was largely conditional. However, the decision was quite reasonable: with all courage, Myasishchev’s projects were not sufficiently developed, and the “firm” itself had very limited capabilities. The experimental machine-building plant was formed on the basis of the flight-operational base in Zhukovsky, which was previously engaged only in testing, and later even had to test the strength of the cargo Atlanta in Novosibirsk. By the MAP decision, the materials on the M-18 / 20 projects were transferred to the Tupolev Design Bureau for use in the work on the Tu-160 (by the way, the Tu-160 in the final version and M-18 at first glance differ only in the number of main landing gear stands - in the M-18 there were three of them).
At the beginning of 1975, the OKB, headed by Alexey Andreevich Tupolev, began to develop a draft design of the aircraft. In this phase, the bomber was assigned the cipher “70 product” and the intra-company designation “K”. The first version of the Tu-160 had a tailless aerodynamic design with a smooth conjugation of the wing and fuselage and was an attempt to “cheaply and angrily” adapt the backlog of previous projects to the new tasks: the Tu-135 bomber (unrealized) and the passenger Tu-144. But this approach led to the creation of a single-mode aircraft, that is, optimized for specific values of speed and altitude. It did not meet the requirements of the Air Force, stipulating a wide range of capabilities of the future machine - from high-speed flight on the ground with a breakthrough to the target to a long cruising at altitude. Therefore, work began on a variant of the Tu-160M (later the letter M was removed) with a variable geometry wing. At this stage, a great role was played by TsAGI, with whom the Tupolev people had traditionally close ties, and primarily GS. Byushgens and G.P. Svishchev (in 1975, they were awarded the USSR State Prize for work on this topic). However, the wing of variable geometry for such a heavy aircraft is very difficult to implement. Its use on the Tu-160 required a qualitative change in production technology. For this purpose, a special State program of new technologies in metallurgy was formed, which was directly coordinated by the then aviation minister P.V. Dementiev.
The general scheme and parameters of the wing of the "seventies" inherited from the Tu-22M. But its design and technological solution for three times heavier machines, naturally, differed significantly: five-spar consoles Tu-160, assembled from seven monolithic panels (four from below and three from above), supported only by six ribs, were hung on the hinges of the most powerful central beam - all-welded titanium "ridge" around which the entire aircraft was built. In the literal sense of the word, the tail unit assembly became a “bottleneck”: in conditions of low construction height, it was necessary to place the hinges securing the full-turning part of the keel and the stabilizer, as well as the most powerful hydraulic actuators (according to calculations, the management of multimeter planes of feathering required seven-ton efforts).
Despite the abandonment of the direct development of the Tu-144 scheme, some of the constructive-technological advances used on it have found application in the Tu-160. These include elements of an integrated aerodynamic layout that combines the fuselage and the inrush part of the wing into a single unit. Such an arrangement solved the triune task - provided high weight perfection, improved bearing properties and allowed, thanks to large internal volumes, to accommodate a significant mass of cargo and fuel. As a result, when close to the Tu-95, the dimensions of the Tu-160 are 50% heavier.
The ultimate “compression” of the Tu-160 forms was also achieved thanks to a rational constructive layout (to reduce the midsection of the fuselage, the front landing gear compartment is located behind the crew cabin, and not below it, as in B-1, the main stands are shortened during cleaning). A large lengthening of the fuselage and smooth contours of its nose with heavily oblique windshields contribute to the reduction of aerodynamic drag (the installation of a deflectable nose fairing of the Tu-144 type was first worked out). These measures made it easier to achieve the desired speed and range and ... made the plane very elegant.
The Tu-160 became the first domestic serial heavy aircraft to use an electric remote control system (known in the West as “fly by wire” - flying by wire), which made it possible to implement “electronic stability” with a flight center close to neutral. As a result, increased flight range, improved handling, reduced load on the crew in difficult situations. Another element of novelty in the design of the airframe and the power plant Tu-160 was considerable attention paid to reducing the radar and infrared visibility of the aircraft (the so-called stealth technology).
In 1977, located in Kuibyshev * OKB N. D. Kuznetsov, the engines were ordered specifically for the Tu-160 (“product P”, later NK-32). In their design, the “firm” used the experience of creating NK-144, NK-22, NK-25, paying particular attention to reducing IR radiation and fuel consumption. In 1980, the NK-32 tests began on the Tu-142M flying laboratory (the engines were located in a streamlined gondola under the “belly" of the carrier). The serial production of NK-32 began simultaneously with the Tu-160 - in 1986.
Composing the engines on the Tu-160, the designers began with the scheme adopted on the Tu-144 (four engines in a single package under the rear of the center section, which allowed the use of oblique shock waves arising under the wing to increase the aerodynamic quality of supersonic flight). However, such a scheme led to excessive losses of total pressure in long air ducts, and individual regulation of air intakes in some cases caused their negative interaction. The reliability of the “tight bundle” of engines was also low - an accident or fire of one of them could disable the rest. The main reason for their separation in two twin-engined gondolas on their sides was the need to make room for the bomb bay, which rightfully occupied a position near the center of mass. Interestingly, the nacelles were considered both with horizontal and vertical (one above the other) engine layout. There was even built a full-scale model of the air intake with two channels, enveloping the center-section beam above and below. Such a solution ensured the achievement of the best aerodynamic parameters and the greatest reduction in visibility, but technological difficulties and doubts about the level of combat survivability of the vertical “bundle” of engines did not allow for this option. A total of TsNGI wind tunnels were blown 14 options for the layout of the power plant.
At the initial stage of work on the aircraft, A.A. Tupolev supervised the topic, and from 1975, V.I.Blyznyuk was appointed chief designer of the bomber, who actively participated in the creation of the Tu-22 and Tu-144. His deputies were L.N. Bazenkov and A.L.Pukhov. Much of the work on the topic of the Tu-160 was conducted by the head of the flight test base VT Klimov (now General Director of the Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex named after AN Tupolev), test engineer AK Yashchukov, chief engineer of the experimental design bureau of the OKB in Moscow A.Mozheykov, director of the aircraft factory in Kazan V.Kopylov. LII, NIAS, VIAM, NIAT, Trud, Raduga, Elektroavtomatika, MIEA and other industry institutes and enterprises (more than 70 organizations) made a huge contribution to the creation of the 800 product.
The conceptual design was defended in the middle of 1976, after which the construction of a bomber layout began. At this stage, the following characteristics were declared:
- range without refueling with a load of 9 t - 14000-16000 km;
- maximum flight altitude - 18000-20000 m;
- maximum bomb load - 40000 kg;
- maximum fuel mass - 162200 kg.
As the main missile armament of the Tu-160, two X-45 long-range missiles (one in each cargo compartment) or 24 short-range X-15 missiles (6 on each of the four MCU-6-1 turrets) were proposed. These weapon options determined the dimensions of the cargo shackles, the main role being played by the large dimensions X-45 (length - 10,8 m, height in folded configuration - 1,92 m, starting weight - 4500 kg, range - 1000 km, h). The volume of each cargo compartment (9000 cubic meters) turned out to be exactly equal to the volume of the Tu-43 cargo compartment.
Ironically, the use of X-45 was abandoned as early as the layout stage, giving preference to the new arms - cruise missiles. Such an X-55 rocket had a greater length than the X-15, which required the creation of the new revolving installation MKU-6-5U.
At the end of 1977, the layout of the Tu-160 was approved, and in Moscow, with broad cooperation with Kazan, the construction of three prototypes began. The first of these, designated "70-01", was intended for flight tests, but was not equipped with on-board equipment in full. The 70-02 aircraft served for statistically testing, and the 70-03 became almost the complete equivalent of a production machine.
Test
In the second half of November, the 1981, the 70-01, began trial taxiing at the airfield in Zhukovsky (when testing engines before the second run, it was photographed). Test pilots were B. I. Veremey, S. T. Agapov, V. N. Matveev, E. S. Pavlov, and M. M. Kozel. The first flight Veremey performed on Friday 18 December 1981, on the eve of L. I. Brezhnev's 75 anniversary celebration. Today, designers deny a direct connection with this date, arguing that the take-off to the birthday of the “leader” is accidental. It seems to be true. in the history of Soviet aviation, many aircraft made their first flight in December, which is associated with the closure of the annual plans of enterprises. An even more prosaic reason for the “yield” of December for the first flights is the clear winter weather that comes to replace the autumn rains and fogs (it is appropriate to recall that the Tu-144 also took off for the first time on the last day of the year - December 31 1968 g). Knowing the date of the anniversary, the leadership could only correct the day of the first flight. Be that as it may, in the assignment for December 18 there was only a speedy run (after the landing the pilot reported that “the car itself asked to be in the air”). The flight in a circle was successful, and the hero of the occasion, Veremey soon received the Hero Star.
The aircraft "70-01" was tested for several years, served to fine-tune the aerodynamics of the car and remove the flight characteristics. On it in February 1985 for the first time the sound barrier was overcome. Externally, it did not differ significantly from mass-produced cars, and much more by internal equipment. With Tupolev's “healthy conservatism”, it was already installed serial equipment and radio equipment, postponing the inevitable problems with fine-tuning complex electronics for the subsequent stages of testing. In addition to the lack of part of the onboard systems, some of the structural elements were made from substitute materials. It is the difficulties with obtaining new construction materials and problems with the technology of their processing became the main reason for the delay in the construction of the second flight copy of the 70-03, which for the first time took to the air only on October 6 1984 g. The car differed from the first seventieth: "Licked" the aerodynamics, especially the contours of the nose (S.M.Eger said: "The plane is flown around the nose!"). In October, the third Tu-160, the first car of the Kazan assembly, also took off.
In total, the 8 aircraft of the two experimental series were tested. The first stage of the factory and state tests was carried out on the flight and development base of the OKB in LII. As the program expanded, the Air Force Scientific Research Institute and its testing ground in Akhtubinsk (Vladimirovka) were connected, the place of which was chosen due to the same suitable weather conditions (the number of clear "Days on the Lower Volga reaches 320 per year). The test brigade of military pilots of the Tu-160 was headed by L.I. Agurin, and a series of flights was conducted by the future head of the Air Force Scientific Research Institute L.V. Kozlov, who "took off" from the "long-range" testers.
The boundless Trans-Volga steppes could not be better suited for working out the main strike weapons of the Tu-160-autonomous cruise missiles X-55 with a range of up to 3000 km. During their launches, the bomber was accompanied by a special Il-76 aircraft, a command and measurement center, which received telemetric information from the Tu-160 and the missile itself, as well as watching its flight. Several times with failures and failures in the X-55 control system, when it became “too independent” and left the route, it was dangerously approaching the boundaries of the landfill, it was necessary to give a command to undermine it. When launched at a greater distance, the X-55 continued to go to the target after landing the aircraft itself. Accuracy of its hit (circular probable deviation from the target) was able to bring to 18-26 m.
Greater attention was required to fine-tune the aircraft’s radio-electronic systems - the Obzor-K sighting and navigation complex (PrNK) and, especially, the Baikal airborne defense complex (RDU), which replaced the small rifles, an indispensable attribute of the former bombers. "Baikal" allows you to detect enemy air defense systems, detect their position, block them with interference or put a curtain of false targets behind the aircraft. Elements of the equipment were tested at radio testing sites near Orenburg and in Central Asia. In general, on state tests by the middle of 1989, the Tu-160 made 150 flights, of which 1 had 4 with launches of X-55CM, and one with simultaneous discharge of rockets from both cargo compartments.
Winemaking
As already mentioned, production aircraft were assembled in Kazan. Formally, they had the designation Tu-160С (serial), but in practice - Tu-160. Kazan plant was formed in 1941 on the basis of the evacuated Moscow aircraft plant number 22 and the local plant number XXUMX. His main products after the war were heavy airplanes created by the AN Tupolev Design Bureau: Tu-124, Tu-4 and Tu-22М. Currently, Kazan Aviation Production Association. JV Gorbunova produces passenger aircraft Tu-22.
The production of Tu-160 required the construction of new specialized workshops, focused on the technology of the new machine. The plant acquired unique equipment for the manufacture of composite and cellular panels, stamping and milling of large parts, including 20-meter monolithic slabs of varying thickness of titanium and high-strength aluminum alloys, which reduced the number of joints in the design of the aircraft, reduced weight and increased service life. The colossal centering wing of the wing, 12,4 m long and 2,1 m wide, was milled from two titanium halves, upper and lower, then welded into one piece in a vacuum chamber under special fits and fluxes (Kazan Know-how). These operations had to be carried out at night - otherwise the work of the most powerful equipment left half the city without electricity.
In the ranks
The first production Tu-160 began service in May 1987. They entered service with the 184 Guards Poltava-Berlin Red Banner Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment based in Priluki, Chernihiv region. During the years of the Great Patriotic War, the regiment was distinguished among other units by military successes, and after its completion remained the elite unit of the USSR Air Force. He was the first to master the Tu-4 strategic bomber, then he was armed with various modifications of the Tu-16, and in 1984 the Tu-22МЗ appeared in the regiment. For Tu-160, the Priluki airfield was reconstructed, the strip was strengthened and extended to 3000 m.
To master the Tu-160 drill pilots had to, without waiting for the completion of state tests, which threatened to drag out because of the large amount of work and the number of test flights. The decision on the trial operation of this aircraft (essentially, military testing) made it possible to carry out its advanced use, identifying defects in daily work and gaining experience for other regiments that would follow the leader to get new bombers. Of course, pilot operation has placed increased demands on the professionalism of pilots and technicians. Usually, retraining of personnel is carried out at the Ryazan DA training center, this time it was necessary to study the aircraft directly in the shops of the Kazan Aviation Plant.
At noon 25 on April 1987 in Priluki, the first group of two Tu-160 landed, led by Kozlov. One of the aircraft belonged to the experimental second series, the second was the lead in the military series. Driving to the location took place without problems, and at the airport, in addition to the traditional bread and salt, the pilots were waited by innumerable "secretaries" and special persons abandoned to protect the new technology.
Two weeks later, 12 in May 1987, Kozlov “rolled in” a new aircraft from the Priluksky airfield, and on June 1 took off the combat crew of the regiment commander V. Grebennikov. Following him, the Tu-160 was lifted into the air by N.Studitsky, V.Lezhayev and A.S.Medvedev, known in the regiment as “ace Medvedev” - he took command of the first detachment of these machines.
To speed up the development of the aircraft (and resource savings) in the regiment equipped gym. In order to use the available pair of cars with maximum efficiency and to prepare a sufficient number of pilots, several crews replacing each other, waiting for their turn at the edge of the runway, “passed” through the cockpit of the Tu-160 flying.
Aircraft like the pilots. The snow-white car was very “volatile”, easy to drive, had excellent accelerating qualities and rate of climb (“she went up”), steadily kept at low speeds, which simplified the landing (the minimum speed was 260 km / h and was even lower than that of Tu-22МЗ). Once there was even a hundred-ton thrust of engines for take-off with interceptors released by inattention. The plane was sluggish, but it was going up, but after they were cleaned, it jerked so that the pilots "almost pushed through the seats." When entering the dangerous regimes, the warning system and the automatic limitations worked, preventing gross errors of the pilots.
The attitude to the Tu-160, baptized "pride of the nation" (common and "flounder" - for a kind of "full face" with a bug-eye cabin), was very respectful, and his flights were arranged with due attention: to avoid being sucked into the air intakes of debris from the ground, airplanes in the first months it was not allowed to steer on start independently. Starting first on a thoroughly swept-out site, the engines and putting them on low gas mode, the planes were towed by a tractor, in front of which a line of soldiers were moving, gathering pebbles and branches, and they almost washed the runway itself before flying.
In the parking lot, the Tu-160 found a peculiar feature: when the wing consoles were folded (65 ° position), he could easily sit on the “fifth point”, and it was difficult to return him to the normal position. I had to leave the wing on the ground in the position of the minimum sweep 20 °, although at the same time the Tu-160 increased in scope and took up more space.
More serious measures required the discovery in the spring of 1988 in the vicinity of Priluk of a container with equipment disguised as a stump, listening to radio communications and fixing the work of the aircraft’s radio systems. Its owners wished to remain unknown, and the Tu-160 received a kind of “muzzles” - covers made of metallized fabric, which closed the radome nose radar on the ground and did not allow radiation outward (they also protected the technical crew from high-frequency irradiation during testing of aircraft equipment).
By the end of 1987, the regiment had a complete squad of ten Tu-160, but to maintain combat readiness, during the time of retraining, it retained drums Tu-22М3 and jammers Tu-16П. As the Tu-160 arrived, the old aircraft were transferred to other regiments, and part of the Tu-16 was dismantled and destroyed on the spot (so that the total number of combat aircraft remained within the framework of the Treaty on the Reduction of Conventional Arms). To control the Tu-160 themselves, who were passing through another “article” (their number was stipulated by the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty), American inspectors were supposed to arrive in Pryluky, for whom a cottage was built next to the parking lots and WFP. The last Tu-22М3 left Priluki in March 1991.
With the rise of the perestroika difficulties in the economy, the production of the Tu-160 and the rate of their deployment somewhat decreased: by the end of 1991, the regiment numbered the 21 machine in two squadrons. Since the beginning of the same year, the third squadron has received Tu-134UBL (combat training for pilots) with controllability and airborne behavior similar to those of heavy bomber. They were used for commissioning crews and maintaining flight skills, allowing them to save the resource of combat vehicles and avoid numerous failures that initially accompanied the Tu-160 (besides, the use of "carcasses" was almost four times cheaper).
As the development of the Tu-160 expanded and the scope of flight missions. Long-distance flights took place from Priluk to Lake Baikal and back either to the North, where the planes reached the island of Graham Bem in the Barents Sea. It happened to reach the North Pole, climbing even “to the north”, and the longest flight performed by the crew of V. Gorgol (regiment commander from 1989) continued 12 h 50 min. In some flights, the Tu-160 was accompanied by the Su-27 10 Army of Air Defense from airfields near Murmansk and on Novaya Zemlya.
The bombers flew over the sea in pairs, and by no means according to the requirements of the Flight Manual. The presence of a partner gave the pilots confidence over the icy expanses, and in the event of an accident they could have called for help (fortunately, this did not happen - because the crews had only ASP-74 life belts, and only pilots received special watertight overalls VMSK fleet: in our planned economy, the supply of YES went through another agency).
Two months after the first flight of the 184, the TBAP performed the first launch of the X-55 cruise missile, made by the crew of the regiment commander. The development of the missile system proceeded very quickly, and in no small measure due to the high automation of the onboard PRNK, which simplified the work of the navigator - the main “actor” during the launch. Targeting X-55 is made by a previously entered program, therefore the task of the navigator is reduced to the precise withdrawal of the aircraft to the point of firing, control of the missile systems and launch. From the suspension in the cargo compartment, the rocket is fired down with a pneumatic pusher, and moving away to a safe distance, opens the wing and tail (folded for compact placement), starts the engine and goes to the target, while the drum of the ejection device rotates, feeding the next rocket to the starting position.
All practical launches of the X-55 were conducted at the test site of the Air Force Research Institute and were accompanied by instrumentation aircraft. The X-55 was fired much more intensively than even the spent X-22Н missiles with Tu-22М3. So, from one of the Tu-160, nicknamed the "Cowboy", shot 14 missiles. One of the most successful “launchers” was Major I.N. Anisin, the chief of intelligence of the 184 TBAP, who was “in charge” of his potential targets.
With the development of missile weapons, the Tu-160 has become fully possible to characterize as a global strike complex. If we recall that the practical range of the aircraft is 12300 km, then at the start of cruise missiles from half of this distance the impact radius will be equal to 9150 km. And this value can increase dramatically when using in-flight refueling.
The work of the guards was inspected by the DA commander PS Deinekin, the Air Force commander E. I. Shaposhnikov, visited the leader regiment and the USSR Minister of Defense D.T.Yazov.
- Peter Butowski, Victor Y. Markovskiy
- The difficult fate of the Tu-160 (part of 1)
The difficult fate of the Tu-160 (part of 2)
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