10 Facts About Tupolev Tu-160

The Tupolev Tu-160 design, named Aircraft 160M, with a lengthened blended wing layout and incorporating some elements of the Tu-144, competed against the Myasishchev M-18 and the Sukhoi T-4 designs.

In November 2014, a Tupolev Tu-160 upgraded with new radar and avionics performed its first flight.

On 16 November 2017, a newly assembled Tupolev Tu-160, built from an unfinished Tupolev Tu-160 airframe, was unveiled during a roll-out ceremony at KAPO, signifying a restoration of certain production technologies such as electron-beam welding or titanium work reportedly lost after the termination of serial production in 1992.

Tupolev Tu-160 is powered by four Kuznetsov NK-32 afterburning turbofan engines, the most powerful ever fitted to a combat aircraft.

Unlike the American B-1B Lancer, which reduced the original Mach 2+ requirement for the B-1A to achieve a smaller radar cross-section, the Tupolev Tu-160 retains variable intake ramps, and is capable of reaching Mach 2.

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The Tupolev Tu-160 is equipped with a probe-and-drogue in-flight refueling system for extended-range missions, although it is rarely used.

The Tupolev Tu-160 is larger and faster than the B-1B and has a slightly greater combat range, though the B-1B has a larger combined payload with external payload.

On 22 April 2006, the then commander of the Long-Range Aviation Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov reported a pair of Tupolev Tu-160 bombers flew undetected through a US-controlled sector during a military exercise in the Arctic.

On 5 July 2006, a Tupolev Tu-160 named Valentin Bliznyuk entered service with the Russian Air Force after completion of its overhaul, bringing the total number back to 15.

On 11 September 2007, according to Russian government sources, a Tupolev Tu-160 deployed a massive fuel-air explosive device, called Father of All Bombs, for its first field test.