Moscow has relied on its Tu-160 Blackjack fleet to carry out offensive operations in Ukraine to date.
Russia’s ongoing invasion in Ukraine is in part fueled by the country’s fleet of bombers. For nearly three and a half years, Moscow has been able to strike critical infrastructure, civilian population centers, and other key targets in Kyiv with its slew of nuclear-capable strategic bombers. Ukraine’s decision to strike some of these aircraft positioned in a Russian air field earlier this week as part of its Operation Spiderweb certainly elevates the sovereign nation’s ability to conduct complex operations deep within Russia. While Ukrainian forces have targeted other Russian airbases in the past with other unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) barrages, Operation Spiderweb was by far the largest and perhaps most successful. Among the bombers reportedly destroyed in Kyiv’s impressive drone operation is the Tu-160.
Introducing the Tu-160
Like many of the platforms in service with the Russian military today, the Tu-160 bomber is a Cold War-era design. Nicknamed as the “Blackjack” by NATO, the USSR-produced aircraft was produced by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1970s. The Tu-160 was developed to fulfill the Soviets’ need to field an aircraft capable of functioning as both a conventional and nuclear bomber. Though many of the Blackjacks produced ultimately were scrapped following the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement, the Russian Federation is the sole operator of the bomber today.
The Tu-160’s variable-wing design mirrors that of the American-made B-1 supersonic strategic bomber platform. This specific layout enables the wings to swing forward and provide more lift during slow-speed flight and then pivot aft at higher speeds to elevate performance. However, unlike the B-1, the Blackjack was not meant to function as a low-level bomber. Instead, the Tu-160 prioritizes speed, able to reach Mach 2.0 (times the speed of sound) in flight. Comparably, the B-1 can only fly at a top speed of Mach 1.25. The Russian bomber is also much larger than its American-made counterpart, measuring roughly 30 feet longer and with a takeoff weight of around 130,000 pounds heavier.
A new and improved Blackjack variant could make the Russian bomber more relevant in the modern era. The CEO of the Rostec claims that the vast majority of the systems and equipment featured on the bomber will be more sophisticated than the initial Tu-160s, particularly in terms of weapons, engines, and avionics. According to Russian state-run media outlet Tass, Sergey Chemezov added that, “Restarting the production of Tu-160 was quite a task for all of Rostec’s affiliates. Design documentation was fully digitized within the tightest deadlines. The technique of vacuum welding of titanium parts was restored, and the production of airframe units was resumed. Today we can say confidently that we have succeeded in all respects.”
Since Moscow has relied on its Blackjack fleet to carry out offensive operations in Ukraine to date, the destruction of even one of the bombers would impact the Kremlin’s war objectives. While Ukraine’s Security Services (SBU) did publish satellite images depicting what appears to be destroyed airframes on the tarmac at Olenya Airbase, the extent of the damage inflicted has yet to be confirmed.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: Alex Beltyukov – CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
