Tu 160 white swan for strategic purposes. Missile control system

Tu-160 is a supersonic strategic missile carrier with variable wing geometry. Designed to destroy the most important targets with nuclear and conventional weapons in remote military-geographical areas and deep behind the continental theaters of military operations.

Full-scale development of the Tu-160 supersonic strategic missile carrier-bomber was started at the Tupolev Design Bureau in 1975. Based on the proposals and recommendations of TsAGI, an aerodynamic configuration of a multi-mode aircraft was developed, which practically combined the capabilities of the Tu-95 aircraft with a swept wing of high aspect ratio, with a change in the sweep angle of the wing consoles in flight, tested on the Tu-22M long-range bomber, in combination with a central integral part of the aircraft, partially implemented on the SPS Tu-144.

The Tu-160 aircraft retained the characteristic features of a heavy classic bomber - a cantilever monoplane design, a high aspect ratio wing, four engines mounted on the wing (under its fixed part), a tricycle landing gear with a nose strut. All missile and bomb weapons are located inside in two identical weapons compartments. The crew of the strategic airship, consisting of four people, is located in a pressurized cabin located in the bow of the aircraft.

The first flight of the Tu-160 aircraft was carried out on December 18, 1981 by the crew of leading test pilot Boris Veremey. Flight tests confirmed the required performance, and in 1987 the aircraft began to enter service.
NATO assigned the preliminary designation "RAM-P", and later the aircraft was given a new code name - "Blackjack".

Flight characteristics:

Dimensions. Wing span 55.7/35.6 m, aircraft length 54.1 m, height 13.1 m, wing area 360/400 sq. m.

Number of seats. Crew - four people.

Engines. Four NK‑32 turbofan engines (4x14,000/25,000 kgf) are placed under the wing in two engine nacelles. The APU is located behind the niche of the left main landing gear support. The engine control system is electric, with hydromechanical redundancy. There is a retractable fuel receiver boom for the in-flight refueling system (Il‑78 or Il‑78M are used as refueling aircraft).

Weights and loads, kg: maximum take-off 275,000, normal take-off 267,600, empty aircraft 110,000, fuel 148,000, normal combat load 9000 kg, maximum combat load 40,000.

Flight data. Maximum speed at high altitude 2000 km/h, maximum speed at the ground 1030 km/h, landing speed (at landing weight 140,000 - 155,000 kg) 260-300 km/h, maximum rate of climb 60-70 m/s, service ceiling 16,000 m, practical flight range with normal load 13,200 km , with a maximum load of 10,500 km, take-off length (at maximum take-off weight) 2200 m, run length (landing weight 140,000 kg) 1800 m.

Armament. Two intra-fuselage cargo compartments can accommodate various target loads with a total mass of up to 40,000 kg. It includes strategic cruise missiles (12 units on two multi-position drum-type launchers) and Kh-15 aeroballistic hypersonic missiles (24 units on four launchers).

In the future, the bomber's armament is planned to be significantly strengthened by introducing high-precision weapons into its composition. cruise missiles new generation, having an increased range and designed to destroy both strategic and tactical ground and sea targets of almost all classes.

The plane has high level computerization of on-board equipment. Information system in the cabins it is represented by electromechanical indicators and indicators on monitors. The traditional steering wheels for large vehicles have been replaced with control sticks similar to those used on fighter aircraft.

The Russian Air Force currently has 15 Tu-160s in service. The leadership of the Russian Air Force plans to increase the number of such aircraft to 30.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Tu-160 (according to NATO classification Blackjack) is a supersonic missile-carrying bomber with a variable sweep wing, created by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1980s. It has been in service since 1987. The Russian Air Force currently has 16 Tu-160 strategic missile carriers. This aircraft is the largest supersonic aircraft and aircraft with variable geometry wings in military aviation, as well as the heaviest among all combat aircraft in the world. The Tu-160 has the largest maximum take-off weight among all existing bombers. Among Russian pilots, the plane is nicknamed "White Swan".

Work on the creation of a new generation strategic bomber began at the A. N. Tupolev Design Bureau in 1968. In 1972, the project of a multi-mode bomber with a variable sweep wing was ready, in 1976 the preliminary design of the Tu-160 project was completed, and already in 1977, the Design Bureau named after. Kuznetsov began work on creating engines for a new aircraft. Initially, it was going to be armed with high-speed X-45 missiles, but later this idea was abandoned, giving preference to small-sized subsonic cruise missiles like the X-55, as well as aeroballistic hypersonic missiles X-15, which were placed on multi-position launchers inside the hull.

The full-scale model of the new bomber was approved in 1977. In the same year, at the pilot production of the MMZ “Experience” in Moscow, they began assembling a batch of 3 experimental machines. The wing and stabilizers for them were produced in Novosibirsk, the fuselage was manufactured in Kazan, and the landing gear - in Gorky. The final assembly of the first prototype was carried out in January 1981, the Tu-160 aircraft with the numbers “70-1” and “70-3” were intended for flight tests, and the aircraft with the number “70-02” for static tests.

Assembly of a prototype at MMZ "Experience"

The first flight of the aircraft with the serial number “70-01” took place on December 18, 1981 (the crew commander was B.I. Veremey), and on October 6, 1984, the aircraft with the serial number “70-03” took off, which already had a complete set serial bomber equipment. Another 2 years later, on August 15, 1986, the 4th serial bomber left the gates of the assembly shop in Kazan, which became the first combat aircraft. In total, 8 aircraft of two experimental series were involved in flight tests.

During state tests, which were completed in mid-1989, 4 successful launches of X-55 cruise missiles, which were the main vehicle, were carried out from the missile-carrying bomber. The maximum speed of horizontal flight was also achieved, amounting to almost 2200 km/h. At the same time, during operation, they decided to limit the speed threshold to a speed of 2000 km/h, which was mainly due to preserving the service life of the propulsion system and the airframe.

The first 2 experimental Tu-160 strategic bombers were included in the Air Force combat unit on April 17, 1987. After the collapse of the USSR, almost all production vehicles available at that time (19 bombers) remained on the territory of Ukraine, at the air base in the city of Priluki. In 1992, bombers of this type began to enter service with the 1st TBAP of the Russian Air Force, which was based in Engels. By the end of 1999, there were 6 Tu-160 aircraft at this airbase, another part of the aircraft was in Kazan (under assembly) and at the airfield in Zhukovsky. Currently, most of the Russian Tu-160s have individual names. For example, the Air Force has aircraft “Ilya Muromets” (this was the name of the world’s first heavy bomber, which was built in Russia in 1913), “Mikhail Gromov”, “Ivan Yarygin”, “Vasily Reshetnikov”.

The high performance of the Russian strategic bomber was confirmed by the establishment of 44 world records. In particular, with a payload of 30 tons, the aircraft flew along a closed route with a length of 1000 km. at a speed of 1720 km/h. And in a flight over a distance of 2000 km, with a take-off weight of 275 tons, the aircraft was able to reach an average speed of 1678 km/h, as well as a flight altitude of 11,250 m.

During serial production, the bomber underwent a number of improvements, which were determined by the experience of its operation. For example, the number of shutters for feeding the aircraft engines was increased, which made it possible to increase the stability of the turbojet engine (a two-circuit turbojet engine with an afterburner) and simplify their controllability. Replacing a number of structural elements from metal to carbon fiber made it possible to reduce the weight of the aircraft to some extent. The operator's and navigator's hatches were equipped with rear-view periscopes, the software was also improved and changes were made to the hydraulic system.

As part of the implementation of a multi-stage program to reduce radar signature, a special graphite radar-absorbing coating was applied to the air intake ducts and shell, and the nose of the aircraft was also covered with radar-absorbing paint. It was possible to implement measures to shield the engines. The introduction of mesh filters into the cabin glazing made it possible to eliminate the re-reflection of radar radiation from it internal surfaces.

Today, the Tu-160 strategic missile-carrying bomber is the most powerful combat vehicle in the world. In terms of armament and its main characteristics, it is significantly superior to its American counterpart - the B-1B Lancer multi-mode strategic bomber. It is assumed that further work to improve the Tu-160, in particular the expansion and updating of weapons, as well as the installation of new avionics, will be able to further increase its potential.

Design Features

The Tu-160 bomber is made according to a normal aerodynamic design with variable wing geometry. A special feature of the aircraft airframe design is the integrated aerodynamic layout, according to which the fixed part of the wing forms a single whole with the fuselage. This solution made it possible to make the best use of the internal volumes of the airframe to accommodate fuel, cargo, and various equipment, as well as to reduce the number of structural joints, which led to a reduction in the weight of the structure.

The bomber's airframe is made primarily from aluminum alloys (B-95 and AK-4, heat-treated to increase service life). The wing consoles are made of titanium and high-strength aluminum alloys and are docked to hinges that allow you to change the wing sweep in the range from 20 to 65 degrees. The share of titanium alloys in the mass of a bomber airframe is 20%; fiberglass is also used; glued three-layer structures are widely used.

The bomber's crew, consisting of 4 people, is located in a single spacious sealed cabin. In its front part there are seats for the first and second pilots, as well as for the navigator-operator and navigator. All crew members are seated in K-36DM ejection seats. To improve the performance of operators and pilots during long flights, the seat backs are equipped with pulsating air cushions for massage. At the rear of the cockpit there is a small kitchen, a folding berth for rest and a toilet. Late model aircraft were equipped with a built-in stairway.

The aircraft landing gear is tricycle with 2 steerable front wheels. The main landing gear has an oscillating shock strut and is located behind the bomber's center of mass. They have pneumatic shock absorbers and three-axle bogies with 6 wheels. The landing gear retracts into small niches in the fuselage back along the bomber's flight path. Shields and aerodynamic deflectors, designed to press air against the runway, are responsible for protecting engine air intakes from dirt and precipitation entering them.

The Tu-160 power plant includes 4 bypass turbojet engines with an NK-32 afterburner (created by the N.D. Kuznetsov Design Bureau). The engines have been mass-produced in Samara since 1986; until the mid-1990s they had no analogues in the world. NK-32 is one of the world’s first production engines, during the design of which measures were taken to reduce IR and radar signature. The aircraft's engines are located in pairs in engine nacelles and separated from each other by special fire partitions. The engines operate independently of each other. For implementation autonomous power supply The Tu-160 was also equipped with a separate auxiliary gas turbine power unit.

The Tu-160 bomber is equipped with a PRNA sighting and navigation system, consisting of an optoelectronic bomber sight, surveillance radar, INS, SNS, astrocorrector and on-board defense complex “Baikal” (containers with dipole reflectors and IR traps, heat direction finder). There is also a multi-channel digital communication complex that is interfaced with satellite systems. More than 100 special computers are used in the bomber's avionics.

The onboard defense system of a strategic bomber guarantees the detection and classification of enemy air defense system radars, determination of their coordinates and their subsequent disorientation by false targets, or suppression by powerful active jamming. For bombing, the “Groza” sight is used, which ensures the destruction of various targets with high accuracy in daytime conditions and in low light levels. The direction finder for detecting enemy missiles and aircraft from the rear hemisphere is located at the extreme rear of the fuselage. The tail cone contains containers with dipole reflectors and IR traps. The cockpit contains standard electromechanical instruments, which are generally similar to those installed on the Tu-22M3. The heavy vehicle is controlled using a control stick (joystick), as on fighter aircraft.

The aircraft's armament is located in 2 intra-fuselage cargo compartments, which can contain a variety of target loads with a total mass of up to 40 tons. The armament may consist of 12 X-55 subsonic cruise missiles on 2 multi-position drum-type launchers, as well as up to 24 X-15 hypersonic missiles on 4 launchers. To destroy small tactical targets, the aircraft can use adjustable aerial bombs (CAB) weighing up to 1500 kg. The aircraft can also carry up to 40 tons of conventional free-fall bombs. In the future, the armament complex of a strategic bomber can be significantly strengthened by including new high-precision cruise missiles, for example, the X-555, designed to destroy both tactical and strategic ground and sea targets of almost all possible classes.

Performance characteristics of the Tu-160:
Dimensions: maximum wingspan - 55.7 m, minimum - 35.6 m, length - 54.1 m, height - 13.2 m.
Wing area – 360.0 sq. m.
Aircraft weight, kg.
- empty – 110,000
- normal take-off – 267,600
- maximum take-off – 275,000
Engine type – 4 NK-32 turbofan engines, non-afterburning thrust – 4x137.2 kN, afterburning – 4x247.5 kN.
Maximum speed at altitude is 2230 km/h, cruising speed is 917 km/h.
Practical flight range without refueling: 12,300 km.
Combat radius: 6,000 km.
Practical ceiling – 15,000 m.
Crew – 4 people
Armament: two ventral compartments accommodate various target loads with a total mass of 22,500 kg, maximum - up to 40,000 kg. The armament includes tactical and strategic cruise missiles X-55 and X-55M, as well as short-range aeroballistic hypersonic missiles X-15 (M=5) with nuclear and non-nuclear warheads, as well as KAB adjustable aerial bombs of various types up to KAB-1500 , conventional types of bombs, as well as mines.

Sources used:
www.arms-expo.ru/049049056050124055049050.html
www.worldweapon.ru/sam/tu160.php
www.militaryrussia.ru/blog/topic-262.html

"...Continuation of merits"

No matter how good the plane turned out to be, trial operation initially yielded a generous harvest of shortcomings. Almost every flight of the Tu-160 brought failures of a variety of systems and, first of all, complex and capricious electronics (the fact that the Americans’ mastery of the B-1B was accompanied by the same difficulties was of little comfort). The multiple degree of redundancy and redundancy helped out (for example, the fly-by-wire control system of a bomber has four channels and emergency mechanical wiring).

The “raw” BKO caused especially a lot of trouble, because of its extremely low reliability it earned the reputation of “ballast”, two tons of which were wasted. After numerous modifications, in April 1990 the BKO was able to be made to work (on the occasion of which A.A. Tupolev came to the regiment), although failures haunted him in the future.

The NK-32 engines had problems with starting - the most unstable mode of operation, which the automation could not cope with; there were also flight failures (mainly due to the fault of the wayward electronic system regulation, which once turned off two engines in the air on Major Vasin’s plane). Nevertheless, the thrust reserve allowed the aircraft to continue flying and even take off with one engine inoperative, which had to be taken advantage of when the Tu-160 was shown to the US Secretary of Defense F. Carlucci - both aircraft took off and performed passage on three engines (naturally, the minister was not informed about this ). The service life of the NK-32 was gradually tripled and increased to 750 hours. The air intakes turned out to be the weak points of the airframe; their imperfect gas dynamics caused itching and vibrations, which caused cracks to form and rivets to fly out. This defect was eliminated by replacing the first sections of the air ducts (they had to be taken out from the front “through the throat”) and by strengthening the edging of the front edges of the air intake. The kinematics of the main landing gear were too complex - when retracting, the struts were shortened to fit into small niches, and when released, they moved apart, shifting to the outer sides and increasing the track by 1200 mm. The low reliability of the landing gear retraction and extension mechanism forced it to fly for several months in 1988 without retracting it, but from the next series the kinematics were changed, removing the “extra” strut, and all previous aircraft were modified. The aircraft's hydraulic system has also been improved.

At high flight speeds, the honeycomb glued panels of the stabilizer delaminated and “slammed” (on one of the aircraft at LII, a solid piece of the tail even came off in the air, the same incident happened in the regiment with A. Medvedev). The plumage had to be strengthened, while at the same time being “cut” by half a meter to reduce the load. Modified stabilizers, an “oversized cargo” with a span of 13.25 m, were delivered from the factory to a unit on the fuselage by a special variant of the Il-76 - a “triplane”. During a demonstration in Ryazan, the Tu-160 lost one of the plastic tail fairings in the air (the plane definitely did not like displays).

These defects, as a rule, did not lead to serious consequences (trial operation new car was precisely aimed at “catching” them), and the most unpleasant thing was the unexpected blocking of the brakes on takeoff, which once completely “taken off” the plane. There were also several cases when, during landings, pilots underestimated the inertia of a multi-ton machine, and it, having flown over the runway, rolled out onto the ground (no arresting device could have stopped the Tu-160, and releasing a braking parachute on time was considered “low class”).

Identified failures and defects related to design and production deficiencies (according to the column “CPN”, the responsibility lies with the developer - OKB and the manufacturer) were taken into account in the design of aircraft of new series. The number of engine feed flaps on the side walls of the air intakes was increased to six to increase the compressor stability margin, their control was simplified, some honeycomb panels with metal filler in the airframe were replaced with composite ones (this gave a gain in weight and service life), the tail fairing of the BKO antennas was shortened by half, the derailment flow from which at high speeds caused dangerous vibrations that disable the equipment. On the latest series of aircraft, the top hatches of the navigator and operator were equipped with periscopes for inspecting the tail hemisphere (in addition to the rear-view radar). In the same way, previously produced Tu-160s were modified by factory specialists directly into the regiment.

Multi-position ejection unit MKU-6-5U in the cargo compartment of the Tu-160

The aircraft's equipment has also undergone modernization. We have improved the RSDN, which is guided by ground radio beacons. The navigation complex was equipped with an autonomous astrocorrector, which determines with high accuracy the coordinates of the vehicle according to the Sun and stars, which is especially useful in flights over the ocean and at high latitudes. The navigators' approval was received by the PA-3 course plotter with a moving map indicating the current position of the aircraft. An on-board satellite navigation system with an accuracy of determining coordinates of 10-20 m was also prepared for the Tu-160. Its operation was ensured by several orbital vehicles specially launched into space as part of a state program for the needs of the Air Force, Navy and ground forces. It was also possible to solve problems associated with software and PRNA systems engineering (previously, all four of its channels “spoke” different languages).

In several stages, a set of measures was carried out to reduce the radar signature of the Tu-160: they applied black radio-absorbing graphite coating to the air intakes and channels to the engines, covered the nose of the aircraft with a special organic-based paint, shielded the engine guide vanes (and the secret of this development is still strictly hiding).

Mesh filters were introduced into the cockpit glazing, “locking” the electromagnetic background of the equipment inside, which could unmask the aircraft. The filters should also weaken the light flux in the event of a nearby nuclear explosion (for the same purpose, the glass is equipped with curtains and blinds), and the light filter of the ZSh-7AS helmet can protect the pilots’ eyes from a blinding flash.

Nose landing gear

Presentations

On August 2, 1988, US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci was the first foreigner to see the Tu-160. At the Kubinka airbase near Moscow, he was shown the aircraft of the 184th regiment with the number 12, and the other two were shown in flight. At the same time, some tactical and technical characteristics of the aircraft were publicly announced for the first time, including the flight range without refueling, equal to 14,000 km. On June 13, 1989, again in Kubinka, the Chairman of the US Committee of Chiefs of Staff, Admiral W. Crowe, was shown the Priluki Tu-160 with number 21.

The first meeting in the air of a Tu-160 with Western aircraft took place in May 1991. over the Norwegian Sea. F-16A fighters of the 331st squadron of the Norwegian Air Force at the latitude of the city of Tromso met and for some time accompanied a pair of Tupolev bombers.

The first public display of the aircraft took place on August 20, 1989 during the celebration of Aviation Day, when the Tu-160 passed at low altitude over the Tushinsky airfield. In September 1994, journalists and professional aviators had the opportunity to get a detailed look at the bomber in Poltava during events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the shuttle raids on Germany, and in Priluki in February 1995.

Main landing gear

Airplane for pilots

The Tu-160 was perhaps the first Soviet combat aircraft, during the creation of which due attention was paid to ergonomics. Finally, the demands of pilots who had previously put up with limited visibility from the cockpit of the Tu-22 (deservedly nicknamed “Blind Jack”) and spent long hours in the “tight packing” of the Tu-22M were heard. On long flights, the Tu-160 crew, having left their workplaces, can stretch and relax, even on a foam mattress spread in the aisle between the navigators’ seats. Amenities include a cupboard for heating food and a toilet, which replaced the “filthy bucket” that was content with the Tu-95. A real battle broke out around the toilet: the Air Force refused to accept the aircraft for service for several months due to the inconsistency of its design with the specifications (the toilet used polyethylene bags that were melted after use: the complaints were about an insidious device that produced a leaky seam). The customer, feeling his rights, began to show unprecedented adherence to principles, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force even threatened to appeal to the military prosecutor’s office if the indicated disadvantages will not be eliminated.

On the first production Tu-160s, complaints were made about the working conditions of the crew. Thus, the main and backup devices were of various types; the cabin was maintained at a pressure corresponding to atmospheric pressure at an altitude of 5000 m (the crew had to wear oxygen masks at all times). Now almost all machines have eliminated these shortcomings.

The pilots quickly became accustomed to such an unusual element for a heavy aircraft as a control stick rather than a steering wheel. At first, this innovation did not cause much delight among the military. But it soon became clear that the new handle made it easy, without much physical effort, to control the plane. The designers have also created a version of the pilot’s cabin with new equipment, but the transition to it requires modernization of the vehicle fleet, time, and most importantly, funds. Therefore, Tu-160 continues to fly with the old cabin.

Complaints were caused by the rapid failure of the pilot seat adjustment mechanisms, which forced their electric drive to be modified. In the first months of operation, the K-36DM ejection seats themselves had restrictions on their use (speed of at least 75 km/h). Then their developer, the Zvezda plant (general designer G.I. Severin), expanded the range, and ejection became possible even while parked. The seats are equipped with a belt tightening system that is triggered when overloaded. During the development work, the aircraft was tested in a situation simulating a flight with the crew partially abandoning it: pilot N.Sh. Sattarov went to supersonic speed in an aircraft with the upper cockpit hatches dismantled.

The crews are complaining about overalls, helmets, and oxygen masks designed for fighter aircraft and not suitable for long flights. At the base of the regiment, several conferences were held on the “human factor”, at which samples of new equipment were presented: light and comfortable helmets, headphones, “Cormorant” rescue overalls, even massagers and expanders that help relieve stress during a long flight. Alas, they all remained in prototypes. Only on the latest series of aircraft did a built-in stairway appear, without which the crew at a foreign airfield could well find themselves literally in a hopeless situation.

The operational suitability of the Tu-160 also did not go unnoticed by the designers. To facilitate access, the units and hydraulic system piping were placed on the walls of the cargo compartment, and the electrical panels were placed in the chassis niches. Good access to the engines was ensured by their almost complete “unearthing”. The shelves with equipment in the cockpit and technical compartment were conveniently arranged. And yet, the aircraft turned out to be quite labor-intensive to maintain, becoming a record holder by this criterion - for every hour of Tu-160 flight, 64 man-hours of work on the ground were required. Preparing it for departure requires 15-20 special vehicles with working systems, including: installations for fuel nitriding; KAMAZ air conditioners that cool equipment; various tankers, including three huge Hurricane TZ-60 (Tu-160 tanks hold 171,000 kg of fuel); a minibus for the crew, equipped with a ventilation system for high-altitude suits. At the same time, the noise in the aircraft service area many times exceeds all permissible standards, reaching 130 dB (when the APU is started, it exceeds the pain threshold by 45 dB). The situation is aggravated by a shortage of headphones, safety shoes and anti-vibration belts for technicians. Adding to the problems is the use of caustic in the hydraulic system. working fluid 7-50С-3.

To reduce noise in the area, the Design Bureau proposed the same measures that the Americans had taken for the B-1B - the construction of special sites with service complexes, power supply and refueling sources built into concrete. However, the Air Force rejected this option as it did not meet the conditions of mobility during relocation and accepted it only partially: in the caponiers surrounding the parking areas, they equipped shelters where the ground crew, weapons, tools and equipment for servicing the aircraft are located.

Continuous work on fine-tuning the Tu-160 has yielded good results. In terms of reliability, the aircraft even surpassed the Tu-16 and was significantly ahead of the Tu-22M2/M3.

The cockpit of the Tu-160 "Valery Chkalov" at Engels airbase, early November 2012 (photo - RostovSpotter, http://erikrostovspott.livejournal.com)

Ahead of the pilots were flights at extremely low altitudes, refueling in the air, which were supposed to provide the bomber with an intercontinental range (Kozlov, by that time a lieutenant general, was going to fly this machine around the globe). It was necessary to modernize the PrNK, master missile system X-15 and bomber weapons. However, political upheavals made their own adjustments to the fate of the aircraft.

Tu-160 and V-1: similarities and differences

It has already become a tradition, when talking about the Tu-160, to compare it with the American “opponent” - the B-1 strategic bomber. Indeed, the similarity of these machines of the same purpose and class, noticeable even to a layman, at one time led to the fact that the Tu-160 (without knowing its true name) was called the “Soviet B-1”. The fact that the creators of both aircraft agreed on the “aviation fashion” for aircraft of this class, which included elements of an integral layout and a variable-sweep wing, is not surprising. After all, “similar thoughts come to good heads,” and the similarity of requirements technical assignments on new bombers at a similar scientific and industrial level should inevitably lead to similar design solutions.

But the implementation of the plan, accompanied by an innumerable number of evaluated options, leaves only the proximity of the external contours from the former similarity. The creators of the aircraft no longer have to rely only on the laws of aerodynamics and strength that are common to all, but also, to an increasing extent, on the existing production base, the level of technology, their own experience and, finally, the traditions of the company. Political problems on which the financing of the work depends (and often the fate of the project) also affect the “internal content” and capabilities of the future aircraft.

As a quick reference, let us recall: the B-1 appeared earlier and made its first flight on December 23, 1974. On June 30, 1977, President J. Carter ordered that work on the aircraft be frozen, and the freed funds be used to develop cruise missiles. It soon turned out that the relationship between these types of weapons was optimal. In November 1979, the conversion of the B-1 into a carrier of the B-1 B cruise missiles began, with a simultaneous reduction in its radar visibility while cutting funds for the program. The military and “senators from industry” failed to defend many expensive “excesses”, and the proportion of titanium alloys in the bomber design had to be reduced and adjustable air intakes abandoned, which reduced the maximum speed to M = 1.25. The aircraft was to be armed with ALCM cruise missiles, SRAM short-range missiles and nuclear bombs. On March 23, 1983, the first prototype of the B-1B (a converted second prototype of the B-1) was launched, and the first production aircraft was flown on October 18, 1984. Production of the B-1B ended in 1988 with the release of the 100th bomber.

The Seventy, which was created in a planned economy and had no problems with financing, went into production and was put into service in its intended form (of course, adjusted for the technological level of the aviation industry) - as a multi-mode aircraft capable of delivering intercontinental strikes in a wide range of altitudes and speeds.

The opportunity to actually compare both aircraft presented itself on September 23-25, 1994 in Poltava, where the Tu-160 and B-1B, having met “face to face” for the first time, arrived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Operation Frentik - shuttle flights of American bombers to targets in Germany, which were carried out with landing at Soviet airfields. Pilots and technicians of both aircraft were able to inspect the aircraft, go inside and evaluate them in the air, and get an idea of their practical capabilities.

The Americans (the group included, in addition to the B-1B, a B-52N bomber and a KS-10A tanker from the 2nd Bomb Wing from the Barksdale base in Louisiana) “proved themselves” immediately after crossing the border - if this phrase is appropriate here, since the group is here disappeared from the screens of ground-based radars (although this incident should not be attributed to the achievements of stealth technology, but rather to the current state of Ukrainian air defense). A B-1B that appeared over Poltava, without wasting time on the usual “box” around the airfield, immediately after a steep turn, energetically dived down (already on the ground its crew talked about practicing maneuvers with rolls of up to 45 degrees) - this approach is used to save fuel and is categorically unacceptable for our pilots, who are constrained by a multitude of instructions, instructions and flight safety regulations.

* The maximum permissible take-off weight is 216,370 kg, but there has been no information about the operation of a bomber with such a take-off weight.
** M=0.77, 5% fuel reserve, six Kh-55M missiles fired mid-route
*** With armament consisting of eight AGM-64 SRAM missiles, eight M-61 nuclear bombs and a PTB with 9000 kg of fuel in the third bomb bay

Upon closer acquaintance, it turned out that the level of reliability and the number of failures in operation of the Tu-160 and V-1B are almost the same. The problems turned out to be similar - frequent engine failures (at the exhibition in Le Bourget, the crew of the B-1 B, unable to launch them, was forced to abandon the demonstration flight) and the vagaries of complex electronics, especially the BKO (the Americans did not hide their special interest in the Baikal ": "Does this really work for you?!"). It was the insufficient reliability of the power plant and on-board electronic warfare systems AN/ALQ-161 and ALQ-153 that prevented the use of the B-1 B in Operation Desert Storm, and the laurels went to the B-52 veterans.

In terms of offensive weapons, the Tu-160 was “on horseback” - its main weapon, cruise missiles, was well mastered, while the Americans, for financial reasons, were unable to rearm their aircraft with them (the expensive ALCM strike system required not only modifications to the cargo compartments, but And significant change on-board electronics). SRAM short-range missiles, adopted as a “temporary measure,” had reached their shelf life by 1994 (the solid fuel of their engines began to decompose, losing their properties) and were withdrawn from service, and their replacement remains a matter of the future. Only the B61 and B83 nuclear bombs remained in service with the B-1B; The Americans remembered the possibility of equipping the aircraft with conventional bomb weapons only on the eve of the war with Iraq, having carried out tests to drop them in 1991, but did not have time to re-equip the aircraft.

It must be said that such a modification only seems simple: it is necessary to calculate the most effective ways bombing, develop and install bomb racks, cargo lifting winches, install wiring to fuse arming devices and bomb releasers, remake sighting equipment, train crews in the intricacies of aiming and tactical techniques and, finally, test new weapons in different flight modes.

The design of the Tu-160 initially included an expansion of the range of weapons, including the use of conventional bombs, for which the aircraft was equipped with a high-precision optical-electronic bomb sight OPB-15T. We also developed a “package” suspension of bombs using a loader, which reduces the time it takes to equip the aircraft. In contrast to the B-1B, in order to reduce radar visibility and greater flight range on the Tu-160, the placement of all types of ammunition was provided for on the internal sling, in two cargo compartments, with larger dimensions than the “American” (which affected the somewhat larger dimensions airplane). However, the planned implementation of this work was prevented by the emergence of well-known problems, and the result was the “under-equipping” of the aircraft - again, common to both machines and preventing their use in growing local conflicts.

The instrumentation and design of the B-1B cockpit, which, by the way, is also equipped with control sticks, was unanimously rated by our pilots as excellent. Monochrome displays on which information is displayed to the crew are very convenient to use and allow you to concentrate on piloting without being distracted by searching through the “scattering” of pointer indicators. Much of the B-1B equipment was seen only in computer games, and the American veterans present at the meeting were touched when they found analogue devices in the Tu-160 cockpit of those they used during the war. The level of comfort and convenience of the aircraft workplaces turned out to be close, although the B-1B cabin itself is somewhat cramped - it is “propped up” from below by the nose landing gear compartment.

Having become acquainted with the equipment and systems of the “American”, our pilots and navigators agreed that both in terms of potential capabilities and tactical and technical characteristics- range, speed and weight of the load carried, the Tu-160 is superior to the B-1B, however, the advantages of the practical mastery of the bomber remain on the side of the US Strategic Command. Using the capabilities of the B-1B “to the fullest,” American crews have gone far ahead, while many Tu-160 systems are not fully used, and some flight modes remain prohibited.

Due to the more intensive use of equipment, US pilots maintain a high level of class (the average flight time on a B-1B is 150-200 hours per year), including in flights at extremely low altitudes and during aerial refueling. A Russian Air Force delegation that visited the United States in May 1992 could verify this. During one flight, a pair of aircraft from the same 2nd Air Wing performed demonstration docking and undocking in the air 12 times.

At the meeting in Poltava, the sleek appearance of the B-1B decorated with emblems (although it had flown quite well, as evidenced by the erased steps of the built-in ramp) next to the somewhat neglected and hastily crowned with “tridents” Tu-160 spoke in favor of the Americans. It was hard to believe that even the B-1B chassis was washed by technicians with special shampoos. The greatest interest of practical Americans was caused by the earnings of the commander of the Ukrainian Tu-160: “20 dollars? Per day?... Per month!! Ooo!!!"

Tu-160 Ukrainian Air Force, Poltava, 09/24/1994.

Stars and tridents

The Air Force's initial request for the Tu-160 was 100 aircraft - the same number as the Americans received the B-1B. With the collapse of the USSR, the production of the Tu-160, which required the cooperation of hundreds of enterprises, found itself in a difficult situation. The production of aircraft slowed down and was practically reduced to assembly from the existing stock. The modernization of these machines, provided for in the work program until 1996, has also stopped.

The air regiment in Priluky was not spared the problems of “big politics”. On August 24, 1991, the Parliament of Ukraine transferred all military formations on the territory of the state under its control, and on the same day the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was formed. However, at first these events did not have a significant impact on the service of the 184th regiment. However, in the spring of 1992, military units of Ukraine began to take the oath of allegiance to the republic. On May 8, 1992, the 184th Air Regiment (about 25% of the flight personnel and up to 60% of the technical personnel) was also assigned to it. The regiment commander Valery Gorgol was the first to take the oath. The 409th regiment of Il-78 tanker aircraft at the air base in Uzin also came under the jurisdiction of Ukraine.

Tu-160 board No. 342 blue at one of the MAKS-93 air shows (http://militaryphotos.net)

In February 1992, B.N. Yeltsin announced a decree on the completion of production of Tu-95MS bombers and the possibility of stopping the assembly of Tu-160, provided that the United States stopped producing B-2 bombers (it was planned to build 100 copies). However, this proposal did not meet with an adequate response. In addition, with the collapse of the USSR, Russia was virtually left without new strategic bombers. This forced it to continue producing such expensive aircraft, which began to enter service with the 1096th heavy bomber regiment in Engels. Officers from Priluki began to be transferred there (in total, in 1992-93, the Russian Air Force recruited 720 pilots from Ukraine).

It should be noted that initially it was planned to transfer the first aircraft to Engels; the 184th Air Regiment was considered as a reserve one, but life decreed otherwise. Previously, the 1096th TBAP was armed with bombers designed by V.M. Myasishchev M-4 and 3M. Next to it was the 1230th Regiment of 3MS-2 tanker aircraft. On February 16, 1992, the first Tu-160 landed in Engels, which had to be mothballed for six months - there was no one to fly. By May, the 1096th TBAP already had three Tu-160s, but the first flight took place only on July 29.

The car was lifted into the air by DA inspector Lieutenant Colonel Medvedev. At the same time, the airfield was being re-equipped - all ground equipment, simulators and aircraft training facilities remained in Priluki, and now everything needed to be re-equipped.

The fourth aircraft arrived at Engels in early 1993. To strengthen the veto “active” regiment, it was planned to transfer six bombers from the Tupolev company and LII, even if they had managed to exhaust their service life in test flights, but this did not happen. The first launch of the X-55 cruise missile was carried out on October 22, 1992 by the crew of the regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel A. Zhikharev. The next day, the same firing practice was carried out by the crew of Lieutenant Colonel A. Malyshev.

The crew of the 1096th TBAP of the Russian Air Force, which for the first time lifted the Tu-160 from the airbase in Engels. From left to right: navigator Adamov, assistant. com. ship Mr. Kolesnikov, navigator p/p-k Karpov, com. ship p/p-k Medvedev

Despite all the difficulties, YES Russia managed to maintain a semblance of combat effectiveness. Even in the most difficult year of 1992, Russian long-range fighters maintained their class, having flight time of 80-90 hours per year - twice as high as in front-line aviation. As for the Tu-160, they took part in the large-scale exercises Voskhod-93 in May 1993, during which maneuvers by aviation forces were practiced in quickly responding to a threat. The long range of the Tu-160 allowed them to strengthen one of the strategic directions and support the group of Su-24 and Su-27, which were being transferred to Far East(although the launch of the missiles only had to be designated - there were no suitable test sites for them in Transbaikalia). The actual launch, moreover, of a modernized X-55M with an increased range, took place during the exercises of the Strategic Nuclear Forces on June 21-22, 1994, which were inspected by President Yeltsin. In addition to the Tu-160 group, successful launches were carried out at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka ground complex"Topol" and the Northern Fleet's Typhoon-class submarine cruiser.

The position of the Tu-160 in the Russian Air Force does not seem cloudless. The production of these machines in Kazan, after the transfer of five aircraft to the angelic regiment, stalled (in total, there were eight machines at the plant in varying degrees of readiness). Added to the economic troubles are the financial difficulties of the Ministry of Defense, whose budget primarily involves maintaining the combat effectiveness of the active army and financing promising developments. It seems more reasonable to direct the colossal costs absorbed by the serial production of the Tu-160 to work that meets the requirements of tomorrow and allows preserving the potential of the defense industry. One of possible options The “seventies” could be the Tu-160P heavy escort fighter, armed with long- and medium-range air-to-air missiles. At the Paris Air Show in 1991, the Tu-160SK, a civil version of the aircraft, was presented. In this version, it can be used as the first stage of the Burlak aerospace complex, developed at NPO Raduga (initially, this military space program was aimed at replenishing the orbital constellation when the cosmodromes in Plesetsk and Baikonur were disabled). The launch vehicle is suspended under the fuselage and launched at an altitude of about 12 km, which makes it lighter. The system will be able to launch payloads weighing from 300 to 700 kg into low-Earth orbit and is a response to the American Pegasus system.

In the Ukrainian army, aviators found themselves in an even more difficult situation, and the problems primarily affected the most complex and expensive to maintain DA aircraft. Immediately we had to abandon flights for combat use (Ukraine did not have training grounds, and the equipment of the combat training center YES in the Dnieper-Buzhsky floodplains remained only on paper). Author's supervision by the Design Bureau and support by the manufacturer, which was supposed to provide warranty service for 10 years, ceased. Lack of fuel, spare parts and the departure of qualified flight and technical personnel quickly put some of the aircraft on hold. After all, the special IP-50 engine oil for the Tu-160 was produced in Azerbaijan, the wheels were received from Yaroslavl, and the engines were received from Samara. The depletion of resources by units and the shortage of new ones forced them to resort to “cannibalism”, removing what they needed from other aircraft. However, recently the need for such events has almost disappeared - in the 184th TBAP, by the summer of 1994, there were only a few pilots left capable of lifting the Tu-160 into the air. Unfortunately, they are given this opportunity only 4-5 times a year. In full accordance with the theory of reliability, the decreased flight time led to an increase in the number of failures, and the most difficult of them went to Gorgol: in May 1993, he had to land a plane with the landing gear not fully extended. As a result, 5 Russian Tu-160s may represent a greater fighting force than the 21 located in Priluki.

The Kh-55SM cruise missile is ready for suspension on the Tu-160, Priluki, February 1995.

Commander of the 184th Guards. TBAP Colonel V.I. Gorgol takes the oath of allegiance to Ukraine, Pryluky, 05/08/1992.

As a result of a series of hasty decisions made in the first days after the collapse of the USSR, the right to possess strategic forces was provided only for Russia. The deplorable situation in which the Ukrainian Tu-160 found itself is a direct result of this policy. In March 1993, V. Zakharchenko, then adviser to the Ukrainian military attaché in Russia, said: “The Ukrainian armed forces are not faced with tasks that require such aircraft.” This opinion was confirmed by the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force V. Antonets, saying in his speech to journalists in Priluki on February 15, 1995 that the critical situation in the Ukrainian economy makes it impossible to maintain its Tu-160s in proper condition, so it is interested in selling bombers to Russia. However, problems arose with the evaluation of the machines. The Ukrainian side proposed to write off energy debts at their expense (which surprised Gazprom a lot) or exchange them for Il-76 at the rate of 1:2 (but Il is produced in Uzbekistan...). The parties have not yet reached an agreement. Today, the fate of the Tu-160 completely depends on the political situation. But if there is good will, it is possible to reach an agreement: for example, the Dnepropetrovsk plant "Yuzhmash" resumed holding routine maintenance on their missiles on combat duty in Russia.

Brief technical description Tu-160

The Tu-160 is made according to a normal aerodynamic design with a variable sweep wing. The layout of the central part of the airframe is integral. The airframe is made mainly of aluminum alloys (B-95, heat-treated to increase service life, as well as AK-4). The share of titanium alloys in the weight of the airframe is 20%; composite materials are also widely used, and glued three-layer structures are used.

The crew of four is located in the forward part of the fuselage in a common pressurized cabin. Ahead - on the left - the ship's commander, on the right - the co-pilot. Behind them are the seats of the navigator (navigation and offensive weapons) and the navigator-operator (air defense systems, communications and energy). All crew members have K-36DM ejection seats, which are fired upward after the hatches are released. The cabin is equipped with a small kitchen and toilet. Entry on board is carried out via a ground staircase through the niche of the front landing gear (on seventh series aircraft there is a built-in ladder).

Fuselage. In the forward part of the semi-monocoque fuselage there are: an onboard radar, an equipment compartment with avionics units and a pressurized crew cabin, including technical compartments, as well as a niche for the front landing gear leg. Behind the cabin, two unified weapons compartments with a length of 11.28 m and a width of 1.92 m are sequentially located. They each contain one multi-charge revolving ejection device MKU-6-5U, which can carry 6 X-55 missiles. The mass of the MKU is 1550 kg, the drive is hydraulic (on V-1B - from a stepper electric motor). In addition, locks for hanging the entire range of aviation weapons, weapons lifting systems, and electrical switching equipment can be installed in the weapons compartments. The hydraulic system units are located on the end and side walls of the compartment. Between the compartments there is a center section beam. Fuel caisson tanks are located in the inflow and tail parts of the aircraft. In the forward unsealed part of the influx there are units of the life support system.

The wing - swept with a root influx and rotary consoles - has a large aspect ratio. The console rotation units are located at 25% of the wing span with minimal sweep. Structurally, the wing is divided into the following units:

An all-welded titanium center section beam 12.4 m long and 2.1 m wide with a transverse set of ribs made of aluminum alloy. The center section beam is built into the central part of the airframe and ensures the absorption of loads coming from the wing consoles;

Double-cut titanium turning units, ensuring the transfer of loads from the wing to the center section;

Wing consoles made of high-strength aluminum and titanium alloys, rotating in the range of 20°-65°. During takeoff, the sweep angle of the consoles is 20°, during cruising flight -35°, and during supersonic flight - 65°.

The power basis of the consoles is a caisson formed by seven milled twenty-meter panels, five prefabricated spars and six ribs. The caisson serves as a container for fuel. Four-section slats, three-section double-slotted flaps, six-section spoilers and flaperons, and aerodynamic winglets are attached directly to it.

As the wing sweep angle increases, the root parts of the flaps do not retract inside the fuselage, but rotate synchronously with the change in sweep, forming unique aerodynamic ridges.

The tail unit is made according to the normal design with an all-moving stabilizer located at 1/3 of the height of the vertical tail (to remove it from the zone of influence of engine jets). Structurally, it consists of a caisson with rotation units and honeycomb panels made of aluminum or composite materials. The upper part of the keel is all-moving.

The chassis has a steerable two-wheel nose gear and two six-wheel main gears. Chassis track - 5400 mm, wheelbase - 17800 mm. The size of the main wheels is 1260x485 mm, the nose wheels are 1080x400 mm. The nose strut is located under the technical compartment in an unsealed niche and has a deflector that prevents foreign objects from getting under the wheels into the engine air intakes. The stand is retracted by turning it backwards in flight.

Equipment. The Obzor-K radar station in the forward part of the fuselage is used for navigation and target detection both on the ground and in the air. The Groza optical sighting system is located at the bottom of the nose under the fairing. There is a long-range celestial navigation system. Instrumentation is classic analog. The onboard defense complex includes enemy detection and active radar countermeasures systems. The control system is fly-by-wire via pitch, roll and yaw channels with quadruple redundancy and emergency mechanical wiring. The aircraft is statically unstable, so flying with the fly-by-wire system disabled is difficult and has a number of mode restrictions. The aircraft's hydraulic system is four-channel, with a working pressure of 280 kg/sq.cm. All aircraft systems are controlled by about 100 computers, of which 12 serve the weapon control system.

The power plant consists of four NK-32 bypass turbojet engines, created at NPO Trud under the leadership of N.D. Kuznetsov. The engine bypass ratio is 1.4, the pressure ratio is -28.4, and the maximum thrust is -137.3 kN (14,000 kgf) without afterburner and 245.15 kN (25,000 kgf) with afterburner. The engine weight is 3650 kg, length - 6.5 m, inlet diameter - 1455 mm. The engine has a three-stage low pressure compressor, a five-stage medium pressure compressor and a seven-stage high pressure compressor. Low and medium pressure turbines are single-stage, and high-pressure turbines are two-stage. Turbine blades are cooled monocrystalline. The gas temperature in front of the turbine is 1375°C. The engine is equipped with an adjustable auto-model nozzle. The combustion chamber is annular with evaporation nozzles, ensuring smokeless combustion and stable temperature regime. The NK-32 is one of the world's first aircraft engines, during the development of which technologies aimed at reducing the levels of radar and infrared signature were widely used. On the aircraft, the engines are placed in engine nacelles in pairs, separated by fire partitions and operate completely independently of each other.

The engine control system is electric, with hydromechanical duplication. Currently, work is underway to create digital system management with full responsibility. To ensure autonomous power supply on the aircraft, a gas turbine APU is installed behind the niche of the left main landing gear.

The fuel is located in 13 tanks in the fuselage and rotating wing consoles. The fuel system includes an automatic fuel transfer system to maintain a given alignment in all flight modes. The aircraft has an in-flight refueling system - a fuel rod extends from the nose.

Armament. The main weapon option is 12 Kh-55 or Kh-55M/SM cruise missiles, 6 each on two MKU-6-5U devices.

The Kh-55 missile (“product 125”, or RKV-500B, according to the NATO code AS-15b Kent, the M/SM index depends on the type of warhead) was developed at NPO Raduga under the leadership of I. Seleznev. It has a length of 6040 mm, a diameter of 556 mm. To increase the flight range to 3000 km, the rocket can be equipped with jettisonable conformal fuel tanks. The launch weight of the rocket is 1210 kg (without tanks)/1500 kg (with tanks). The Kh-55SM is equipped with a nuclear warhead with a capacity of 200 kT.

An alternative weapon is the short-range Kh-15 missile (with inertial homing) and its variants: the anti-ship Kh-15S and anti-radar Kh-15P. In total, the Tu-160 can carry 24 missiles, six on four MKU-6-1 (two devices in each weapons compartment).

The Kh-15 missile (“product 115”, NATO code AS-16 Kickback) was also created at NPO Raduga. Its length is 4780 mm, diameter - 455 mm, wingspan - 920 mm, weight - 1100 kg (warhead - 150 kg). Rocket flight speed M=5. Range -150 km. With 24 missiles suspended, the weapon mass is 28,800 kg.

With appropriate conversion, the aircraft can carry free-falling nuclear bombs and any type of conventional bombs or sea mines.

Airplane painting. The Tu-160 prototype, which was tested at the LII, was not painted. It had a rather motley appearance due to the different colors and shades of the sheathing sheets and radio-transparent elements.

The aircraft transferred to the units were painted in the standard white color for Long-Range Aviation of the USSR, which, due to its reflective ability, is designed to protect the aircraft from the effects of light radiation during a nuclear explosion. Some elements, in particular the upper cowlings of the engine nacelles and the fairings along the rear fuselage, have the color of unpainted metal.

Two-digit tactical numbers are marked on the nose landing gear doors and on the top of the fin. Moreover, planes based in Pryluki have red numbers, while those in Engels have blue numbers.

Red stars were painted on the top and bottom of the wings and fin. In 1993, they were painted over on Ukrainian Tu-160s, and for some time the vehicles did not have state identification marks at all. Later, at the end of 1993 - beginning of 1994. The planes were marked with the identification marks of the Ukrainian Air Force: yellow-blue circles on the wings and a yellow trident against the background of a blue shield on the fin. Russian Tu-160s carry identification marks inherited from the USSR Air Force.

Strategic bombers at the Engels airbase

Dimensions. Wing span 55.7/35.6 m, aircraft length 54.1 m, height 13.1 m, wing area 360/400 sq. m.

Number of seats. Crew - four people.

Weights and loads, kg: maximum take-off 275,000, normal take-off 267,600, empty aircraft 110,000, fuel 148,000, normal combat load 9000 kg, maximum combat load 40,000.

Flight data. Maximum speed at high altitude 2000 km/h, maximum ground speed 1030 km/h, landing speed (with landing weight 140,000 - 155,000 kg) 260-300 km/h, maximum rate of climb 60-70 m/s, service ceiling 16,000 m, practical flight range with normal load 13,200 km, with maximum load 10,500 km, take-off length (at maximum take-off weight) 2,200 m, run length (landing weight 140,000 kg) 1,800 m.

In the future, the bomber's armament is planned to be significantly strengthened by introducing high-precision cruise missiles of a new generation, which have an increased range and are designed to destroy both strategic and tactical ground and sea targets of almost all classes.

The aircraft has a high level of computerization of on-board equipment. The information system in the cabins is represented by electromechanical indicators and indicators on monitors. The traditional steering wheels for large vehicles have been replaced with control sticks similar to those used on fighter aircraft.

The Russian Air Force currently has 15 Tu-160s in service. The leadership of the Russian Air Force plans to increase the number of such aircraft to 30.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The newest best military aircraft of the Russian Air Force and the world photos, pictures, videos about the value of a fighter aircraft as a combat weapon capable of ensuring “superiority in the air” was recognized by the military circles of all states by the spring of 1916. This required the creation of a special combat aircraft superior to all others in speed, maneuverability, altitude and the use of offensive small arms. In November 1915, Nieuport II Webe biplanes arrived at the front. This was the first aircraft built in France that was intended for air combat.

The most modern domestic military aircraft in Russia and the world owe their appearance to the popularization and development of aviation in Russia, which was facilitated by the flights of Russian pilots M. Efimov, N. Popov, G. Alekhnovich, A. Shiukov, B. Rossiysky, S. Utochkin. The first domestic cars of designers J. Gakkel, I. Sikorsky, D. Grigorovich, V. Slesarev, I. Steglau began to appear. In 1913, the Russian Knight heavy aircraft made its first flight. But one cannot help but recall the first creator of the aircraft in the world - Captain 1st Rank Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky.

Soviet military aircraft of the USSR Great Patriotic War sought to hit enemy troops, his communications and other targets in the rear with air strikes, which led to the creation of bomber aircraft capable of carrying a large bomb load over considerable distances. The variety of combat missions to bomb enemy forces in the tactical and operational depth of the fronts led to the understanding of the fact that their implementation must be commensurate with the tactical and technical capabilities of a particular aircraft. Therefore, the design teams had to resolve the issue of specialization of bomber aircraft, which led to the emergence of several classes of these machines.

Types and classification, latest models of military aircraft in Russia and the world. It was obvious that it would take time to create a specialized fighter aircraft, so the first step in this direction was an attempt to arm existing aircraft with small offensive weapons. Mobile machine gun mounts, which began to be equipped with aircraft, required excessive efforts from pilots, since controlling the machine in maneuverable combat and simultaneously firing from unstable weapons reduced the effectiveness of shooting. The use of a two-seater aircraft as a fighter, where one of the crew members served as a gunner, also created certain problems, because the increase in weight and drag of the machine led to a decrease in its flight qualities.

What types of planes are there? In our years, aviation has made a big qualitative leap, expressed in a significant increase in flight speed. This was facilitated by progress in the field of aerodynamics, the creation of new, more powerful engines, structural materials, and electronic equipment. computerization of calculation methods, etc. Supersonic speeds have become the main flight modes of fighter aircraft. However, the race for speed also had its negative sides - the takeoff and landing characteristics and maneuverability of the aircraft sharply deteriorated. During these years, the level of aircraft construction reached such a level that it became possible to begin creating aircraft with variable sweep wings.

Russian combat aircraft for further growth flight speeds of jet fighters exceeding the speed of sound, it was necessary to increase their power supply, increase specific characteristics turbojet engine, as well as improve the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft. For this purpose, engines with an axial compressor were developed, which had smaller frontal dimensions, higher efficiency and better weight characteristics. To significantly increase thrust, and therefore flight speed, afterburners were introduced into the engine design. Improving the aerodynamic shapes of aircraft consisted of using wings and tail surfaces with large sweep angles (in the transition to thin delta wings), as well as supersonic air intakes.