A bad joke of fate: Some of the Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers in Russia’s air fleet belonged to Ukraine. Individual pieces are on display in the museum there.
Poltava – “Russia is using aircraft that are nearing the end of their service life,” says Christopher Stewart. Kyiv Post has sent the former US pilot to Poltava, to the local Museum of Aviation and Space Technology. There, the magazine accompanies him on a tour of machines that are on the ground in the central Ukrainian city, but which are still causing real terror in eastern Ukraine. “These planes are both technically and morally outdated, but they can still serve as missile platforms,” says the pilot, who has logged several thousand flight hours on an F-16. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, is apparently using everything to bring Ukraine to its knees – on the ground and in the air.
The tour includes the two Tupolev bombers Tu-95 and Tu-160. Ukraine could have used these machines, but decided not to because maintenance would have been too expensive, writes the postIn March, the magazine RBC Ukraine reported that, according to Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance, a total of twelve Tu-95MS bombers with almost 30 Kh-101/Kh-55 cruise missiles took off from Olenya airport in the Russian region of Murmansk and from the Volgodonsk and Engels airfields.
Ukraine’s losses – inflicted by a vintage car as old as Vladimir Putin himself
What is remarkable about the report – in the title, the magazine compares the age of the relic from the Stalin era with the current Russian dictator Vladimir Putin: The Tu-95 aircraft with the NATO code “Bear” is a Soviet and Russian strategic bomber and was developed in the 1950s during the time of Joseph Stalin. “The Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was born in 1952. So the Tu-95 is essentially as old as Putin.”
“First of all, it is important to understand that the Tu-160M/M2 missile bombers are not ‘consumables’ or ‘workhorses’; there are other machines for that. The Tu-160M/M2 missile bombers are a ‘miracle weapon’, a sword that will inevitably strike from the center of Russia and is designed to destroy particularly important targets in the shortest possible time.”
The Soviet Union needed the Tu-95 for potential nuclear strikes against the USA – due to its limited range, the plane was to be abandoned after the mission was completed in order to rescue the crew. The planes assembled in Poltava are in good shape, and US pilot Stewart is very confident in his abilities. Kyiv Post amazed: Although the exhibit is supposed to be an aircraft of the “latest generation”, “it looks more like a relic from the Second World War – there are manual controls everywhere and the automation is minimal,” says the US pilot.
Russia’s offensive: Machines that previously belonged to Ukraine are in use
Here, too, the former pilot believes, the Russian doctrine is very clear: the lack of automation has tied up human resources – the crew consists of seven people, pilots, radio operators, gunners, and flight engineers. As far as Stewart knows, the machine was the counterpart to the US B-52 bomber. But unlike the Americans, the heirs of the Soviet Union have dispensed with any technical modernization and left the machine in active service as archaic as it once was. According to the current index of global air forces, Russia is said to still have 47 machines of this type.
“In fact, it is expected to remain in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces until at least 2040. The Bear is the only propeller-driven strategic bomber still in service,” writes The National InterestAccording to the magazine, the vintage aircraft only flew its first combat mission over Syria in 2015.
START: How Ukraine lost its bombers
As part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) of 1991, Ukraine had to complete the destruction of its strategic weapons by December 5, 2001. As part of this treaty, Kiev destroyed eleven Tu-160 strategic bombers, 27 Tu-95 strategic bombers, and 483 Kh-55 air-launched cruise missiles.
A further eleven heavy bombers and 582 strategic cruise missiles were handed over to Russia under a 1999 agreement as payment for natural gas debts, and all 130 of Ukraine’s SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles, including their silos and launch control centers, as well as 32 SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles and their associated infrastructure were destroyed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine committed to getting rid of the nuclear weapons remaining on its territory by joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon state and becoming a party to START I.
Source: Arms Control Association
As the broadcaster n-tv As reported earlier this year, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was the third-strongest country in terms of nuclear weapons, alongside the USA and Russia; after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the handover of weapons was seen as a mistake. There is no doubt that Ukraine is currently being attacked with bombers and cruise missiles that it previously possessed.
This also applies to the Tu-160 bombers. “Damn, this plane is huge!”, the former US Stewart is told by the Kyiv Post The aircraft is built around two bomb bays with rotating launchers for six cruise missiles each. Museum director Konstantin Polishchuk explains that after the launcher for the first missile is started, the system rotates to fire the next missile until all six (12) missiles of maximum load are on their way – this happens within two minutes.
Putin cannot afford losses: his bombers are relics of the Cold War
This aircraft also still looks like a relic of the Cold War – Russia is said to have a maximum of 15 of them left, according to the current index of global air forces: “A lot of things could be automated – most of the controls, levers and switches. For example, you could combine the engine and flight controls so that you don’t have to constantly move your gaze around the cockpit,” said Stewart, who has experience with the F-16, to the Kyiv Post.
In May, the Russian online magazine Top War with the future of the Tu-95 and the Tu-160 in their various versions and ventured a look ahead to the years 2035 to 2045 – the fate of the Tu-95 propeller plane is questionable, writes the magazine. However, this does seem to make Russia’s military dependent on the future of its US Air Force counterpart: the B-52 bomber. “For example, it is assumed that the US Air Force will still use the B-52H bomber after 2050. Considering that the last B-52H left the workshops in 1962, the service life of some B-52Hs could possibly exceed 100 (!) years,” judges Top War.
Putin’s legacy: The old bombers will still be flying long after Putin has retired
The magazine assumes that these Russian strategic bombers will be gradually phased out of service, so that by 2045 only 35 units will remain in service, some of them possibly in some new modification. “If we talk about strategic aviation, then it is the Tu-95MS/MSM that will bear the brunt of future wars and military conflicts,” writes Top WarFor this reason, the weapon range of the Tu-95MS/MSM can also be modified in future modifications and gain in precision and range.
According to the magazine, the aircraft and its load will have to adapt to the increasing range of air defenses – either in the Ukraine war or in a future military conflict with NATO. Finally, the USA may provide Ukraine with air defense systems with greater range.
The Tu-160 will definitely remain a part of this decade, writes Top War: “First of all, it is important to understand that the Tu-160M/M2 missile bombers are not ‘consumables’ or ‘workhorses’; there are other machines for that. The Tu-160M/M2 missile bombers are a ‘miracle weapon’, a sword that will inevitably strike from the center of Russia and is designed to destroy particularly important targets in the shortest possible time.”
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