Tu-160 "White Swan"

Satellite photos reveal Russian bombers in Venezuela

They r gone now. It was a reminder that although the US has super carriers, Russia has super bombers & super cargo planes.
President Maduro will be a 2nd Assad for Russia if Venezuela is attacked.

And queue US media hyper-BS mode screaming 'new Cuba Missile crisis' in 3, 2...

hoom wrote:And queue US media hyper-BS mode screaming 'new Cuba Missile crisis' in 3, 2...

"IT'S CUBAN MISSILES!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!!" Except Venezuela is like 2000km's away...

hoom wrote:And queue US media hyper-BS mode screaming 'new Cuba Missile crisis' in 3, 2...

They are

Thing is nobody cares

Twitter generation doesn't even know what Cuban Missile Crisis was

PapaDragon wrote:

hoom wrote:And queue US media hyper-BS mode screaming 'new Cuba Missile crisis' in 3, 2...

They are

Thing is nobody cares

Twitter generation doesn't even know what Cuban Missile Crisis was

Nor do they know the location of Venezuela either.

In a crisis, they'll deploy there to protect Venezuela from Colombia & Brazil which r supported by the US. The Dutch owned Aruba & US owned Puerto Rico r right off the coast as well!
For this reason, I won't be surprised if S-300/-400s r sent there too.

miketheterrible wrote:Nor do they know the location of Venezuela either.

Most Muricans probably think its in Africa...

In their stupor & "the pursuit of happiness", they don't even care!

Pursuit of happiness = opium in all its forms.

How many deads this year? 60.000?

Kazan Aviation Plant began production of the first upgraded Tu-160

KAZAN, Dec 20 - RIA News . Kazan Aviation Plant. S.P. Gorbunova began manufacturing the first samples of the modernized Tu-160 new construction, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Krivoruchko said on Thursday during a visit to the company.
"Now the first samples are being manufactured, it has begun. Certainly, mass production will be in the near future. We will wait for the first flight, the development work, further a decision will be made on serial deliveries," Krivoruchko told reporters production of Tu-160.

The deputy minister stressed that all work is on time. "Work is underway, there is a schedule, deadlines are being kept. There are no concerns today," said the deputy head of the military department.
Also, when visiting the aircraft factory, the deputy minister inspected the reconstruction of production assets. “We looked at the enterprise, we are pleased with the result. The federal target program for the reconstruction and renovation of funds is also being implemented,” Krivoruchko said.
According to him, KAZ them. Gorbunova is now "a stably operating enterprise with a long-term order." The Deputy Minister familiarized himself with the progress of the repair work with the modernization of the Tu-22M3 and the Tu-160 strategic missile carriers at the enterprise.

https://ria.ru/20181220/1548320053.html

George1 wrote:

dino00 wrote:Kazan Aviation Plant began production of the first upgraded Tu-160

KAZAN, Dec 20 - RIA News . Kazan Aviation Plant. S.P. Gorbunova began manufacturing the first samples of the modernized Tu-160 new construction, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Krivoruchko said on Thursday during a visit to the company.
"Now the first samples are being manufactured, it has begun. Certainly, mass production will be in the near future. We will wait for the first flight, the development work, further a decision will be made on serial deliveries," Krivoruchko told reporters production of Tu-160.

The deputy minister stressed that all work is on time. "Work is underway, there is a schedule, deadlines are being kept. There are no concerns today," said the deputy head of the military department.
Also, when visiting the aircraft factory, the deputy minister inspected the reconstruction of production assets. “We looked at the enterprise, we are pleased with the result. The federal target program for the reconstruction and renovation of funds is also being implemented,” Krivoruchko said.
According to him, KAZ them. Gorbunova is now "a stably operating enterprise with a long-term order." The Deputy Minister familiarized himself with the progress of the repair work with the modernization of the Tu-22M3 and the Tu-160 strategic missile carriers at the enterprise.

https://ria.ru/20181220/1548320053.html

so this will be a new aircraft not an existed modernized one?

I think so.

George1 wrote:

dino00 wrote:Kazan Aviation Plant began production of the first upgraded Tu-160

KAZAN, Dec 20 - RIA News . Kazan Aviation Plant. S.P. Gorbunova began manufacturing the first samples of the modernized Tu-160 new construction, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Alexey Krivoruchko said on Thursday during a visit to the company.
"Now the first samples are being manufactured, it has begun. Certainly, mass production will be in the near future. We will wait for the first flight, the development work, further a decision will be made on serial deliveries," Krivoruchko told reporters production of Tu-160.

The deputy minister stressed that all work is on time. "Work is underway, there is a schedule, deadlines are being kept. There are no concerns today," said the deputy head of the military department.
Also, when visiting the aircraft factory, the deputy minister inspected the reconstruction of production assets. “We looked at the enterprise, we are pleased with the result. The federal target program for the reconstruction and renovation of funds is also being implemented,” Krivoruchko said.
According to him, KAZ them. Gorbunova is now "a stably operating enterprise with a long-term order." The Deputy Minister familiarized himself with the progress of the repair work with the modernization of the Tu-22M3 and the Tu-160 strategic missile carriers at the enterprise.

https://ria.ru/20181220/1548320053.html

so this will be a new aircraft not an existed modernized one?

There may be one more frame left from previous construction... debated.

It is so confusing... they have been talking about upgrades and new builds for over a decade... more of the former before that... yet the cockpit in the video of the aircraft that visited Venezuela was conventional dials and not at all what I would expect for an upgraded new Tu-160M2...

GarryB wrote:It is so confusing... they have been talking about upgrades and new builds for over a decade... more of the former before that... yet the cockpit in the video of the aircraft that visited Venezuela was conventional dials and not at all what I would expect for an upgraded new Tu-160M2...

Dials are more resistant to EMP caused by nuke blast than fancy stuff

They use them for a reason, this is still nuclear bomber

This was a Tu-160M (or M1), not a Tu-160M2 = an old plane, not a new build one.

According to Butowski the mid-life conversion is called Tu-160M1, it includes new autopilot, new communication and navigation equipment, some old stuff is removed.

The definite modernisation (Tu-160M) will receive new radar and glass cockpit. And the new version of the NK-32 engine.

White Swans settling in the USA backyard
https://regnum.ru/news/polit/2541809.html

Who cares about cockpits. Those things only need to be able to launch cruise missiles from 2000km away. They proved to be able to go at the other side of the earth without any modernization.

They will never be used as conventional bombers anyway in a real war or when tensions are high but rather kept in middle of russia waiting with their kh-101.

I want to see what the modernised models cockpits look like... is that OK with you?

Dials are more resistant to EMP caused by nuke blast than fancy stuff

They use them for a reason, this is still nuclear bomber

Actually the dials just display information... it is the sensors that detect the information displayed on the dials that need protection from EMP, but these aircraft are no longer bombers AFAIK... they are now purely cruise missile carriers, so any nuclear blast is likely to occur thousands of kms away, and indeed most will occur well inside the atmosphere so the EMP effect will be rather minimal anyway.

This was a Tu-160M (or M1), not a Tu-160M2 = an old plane, not a new build one.

Yes, I know... what I am saying is that over the years there has been repeated talk about aircraft upgrades for all the Tupolevs that talked about unification of engines (where practical.... ie backfire and blackjack are the same but not the bear), radar, sensors, presumably cockpits, and weapons.

They often have reports about this or that upgrade but it is never confirmed and this video footage seems to show no much has changed since the first production Blackjacks in terms of cockpit instrumentation.

Now they did send two Blackjacks... perhaps they sent an old model and an upgraded model to test the performance of each, and to allow cockpit video of the old model for release to the public.... or maybe they were both old models... or maybe both are upgraded and the upgrade does not include cockpit modernisation.

White Swans settling in the USA backyard

Another parameter they do not explore is that with the end of the INF treaty, then Russia will be free to return to develop nuclear missiles with ranges of between 500km and 5,000km... so basing some IRBMs in Venezuela... just looking at a map, a 5,000km range missile could reach Arizona/Wyoming/south dakota and pretty much any US state to the east of those states from a quite central launch position in Venezuela...

..Russia will be free to return to develop nuclear missiles with ranges of between 500km and 5,000km... so basing some IRBMs in Venezuela...

Nicaragua is even better situated, but it will involve deploying too many troops there as well to guard service & maintain them, & supplying them will be a lot harder than those in Syria. Easier to send a few SSN/GNs off the coasts with LACMs.

The Defense Ministry proved the superiority of the Russian Tu-160 over the American B-1B

The Russian military department compared the Russian “White Swan” with the American B-1B strategic bomber in a number of technical indicators and combat capabilities.

The Russian Defense Ministry recalled that since its inception, the Tu-160 still surpasses its Western counterparts in many ways. This is evidenced by the infographics published by the military.

Combat vehicles in the presented infographics are compared by a number of technical indicators and combat capabilities.

As a result, the Russian aircraft surpassed its American counterpart in a number of indicators: maximum combat load, range, maximum flight speed, and others.



https://tvzvezda.ru/news/opk/content/201812230915-c3h3.htm

45t payload.

But the US has a much better B-2 and in the future B-21.

Arrow wrote:But the US has a much better B-2 and in the future B-21.

Try to put the B-2 data in this infographic too.