Vladimir Putin took a 30-minute ride in a modernized Tu-160M supersonic bomber as part of the crew yesterday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin flew in a Tu-160M strategic bomber on Feb. 22, 2024. A 30-minute sortie from Kazan Aviation Plant, located some 450 miles to the east of Moscow. The flight came the day after Putin visited the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant, a Tupolev subsidiary that ranks among major Russian aviation industry enterprises and employed 8,400 people in 2023.
The plant whose runway has been renovated recently, is preparing to produce new Tu-160M ‘White Swan’ strategic missile-carrying bomber, a new version of the Tu-160 plane.
On 21 Feb, Putin was at the Kazan Aviation Factory to name a modernized Tu-160 BLACKJACK for the first president of Tartarstan, Mintiner Shajmiev. Three aircraft supported the visit. Two Tu-214PU Airborne Command Post RA-64517 & RA-64520 and an Il-96 CAMBER RA-96014. pic.twitter.com/PiOoBm1hIh
— reconron (@thereccelizard) February 22, 2024
‼️🇷🇺✈️ JUST IN: TU-160 took off with #Putin pic.twitter.com/SScGDmVHXZ
— Maimunka News (@MaimunkaNews) February 22, 2024
Footage released by the Kremlin shows Putin in the left seat of the Blackjack’s cockpit, at times handling the large bomber under the supervision of the pilot: a show of might, that comes on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as Russia’s President prepares for the election race next month.
Putin flying on Tu-160M strategic bomber. pic.twitter.com/Bbo7PKhqaJ
— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 22, 2024
Interestingly, the glass cockpit of the bomber has been blurred in the clip.
As explained in a previous post here at The Aviationist:
The Tupolev Tu-160 is a supersonic strategic missile-carrier with a variable sweep wing. The decision to resume the production of the upgraded version of the Tu-160, the Tu-160M, was made in 2015.
As a consequence, two existing Tu-160s were upgraded to the Tu-160M standard under a contract with the Ministry of Defense. Overall, 15 airframes should be upgraded. The aircraft that first flew on Jan. 12, 2022 is the first newly build airframe under a contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade out of ten advanced Tu-160M2 aircraft which will be produced for the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The new Tu-160M2 version, includes a glass cockpit, weapons upgrades, new engines and the removal of obsolete equipment no longer relevant to the Tu-160’s mission. According to the CEO of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Yury Slyusar, the new aircraft has 80% of its systems and equipment upgraded. The original Tupolev Tu-160 “Blackjack” first flew in 1981 and entered service in 1987.
The first flight of the first deeply modified Tu-160 (designated Tu-160M2), built from backlog airframe took place on Feb. 2, 2020 and lasted 2 hours and 34 minutes.
On Nov. 3, 2020, the first “fundamentally upgraded strategic bomber” flew from Kazan, Russia, powered by the new NK-32-02 engines . The United Aircraft Corporation said that during the flight the upgraded general systems and onboard radio-electronic equipment were tested and the performance of the new engine NK-32 of the 02 series assessed.
At the moment, we can’t but notice that the new Tu-160 is often referred to as Tu-160M and M2. If any, the difference between M and M2 variants is not clear.
The flight on Feb. 22, 2024 was not the first time Putin flew on a Tu-160, the first time was on Aug. 16, 2005.
- SEO Powered Content & PR Distribution. Get Amplified Today.
- PlatoData.Network Vertical Generative Ai. Empower Yourself. Access Here.
- PlatoAiStream. Web3 Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
- PlatoESG. Carbon, CleanTech, Energy, Environment, Solar, Waste Management. Access Here.
- PlatoHealth. Biotech and Clinical Trials Intelligence. Access Here.
- Source: https://theaviationist.com/2024/02/23/putin-flies-aboard-modernized-tu-160m-strategic-bomber/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=putin-flies-aboard-modernized-tu-160m-strategic-bomber
- :has
- :is
- :not
- 02
- 12
- 125
- 15%
- 16
- 1996
- 2%
- 2005
- 2015
- 2020
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024
- 21
- 22
- 2nd
- 34
- 400
- 8
- a
- According
- advanced
- Aerospace
- After
- AIR
- Air Force
- aircraft
- among
- an
- and
- Anniversary
- any
- AS
- assessed
- At
- Aug
- Australia
- avatar
- aviation
- based
- BE
- been
- between
- blackjack
- blogs
- Books
- build
- built
- but
- by
- came
- ceo
- Clash
- clear
- Cockpit
- combat
- comes
- computer
- Computer Engineering
- consequence
- contract
- contributed
- CORPORATION
- covering
- credit
- crew
- Crime
- David
- day
- decision
- deeply
- Defense
- designated
- difference
- different
- during
- East
- editor
- Election
- employed
- end
- Engine
- Engineering
- Engines
- entered
- enterprises
- equipment
- Ether (ETH)
- Europe
- existing
- explained
- factory
- famous
- Feb
- First
- first time
- five
- flight
- flying
- For
- Force
- Forces
- Former
- founder
- from
- General
- glass
- graduate
- Handling
- he
- here
- HOURS
- HTTPS
- if
- image
- in
- includes
- Including
- industry
- Intelligence
- invasion
- Italian
- Italy
- ITS
- Jan
- journalist
- jpg
- just
- Kremlin
- large
- left
- located
- longer
- M2
- made
- magazines
- major
- many
- might
- Military
- ministry
- minutes
- Mission
- modified
- moment
- Month
- monthly
- more
- Moscow
- most
- name
- New
- newly
- news
- next
- no
- Notice..
- nov
- obsolete
- of
- off
- often
- on
- Onboard
- ONE
- ones
- original
- Others
- out
- overall
- part
- People
- performance
- photo
- pilot
- Place
- plane
- Planes
- plant
- plato
- Plato Data Intelligence
- PlatoData
- Post
- powered
- Prepares
- preparing
- president
- previous
- private
- produce
- Produced
- Production
- Putin
- Race
- ranks
- Read
- recently
- referred
- released
- relevant
- removal
- report
- Reported
- resume
- Ride
- rome
- RU
- runway
- Russia
- russian
- s
- Said
- Second
- Series
- service
- several
- should
- show
- showing
- Shows
- since
- some
- Strategic
- subsidiary
- supersonic
- supervision
- Supported
- Sweep
- Syria
- Systems
- ten
- tested
- that
- The
- three
- time
- times
- to
- took
- trade
- two
- u.s.
- Ukraine
- under
- United
- upgraded
- upgrades
- variable
- variants
- version
- Video
- Visit
- visited
- Vladimir Putin
- war
- was
- we
- Weapons
- were
- which
- will
- Wing
- with
- world’s
- worldwide
- written
- yesterday
- zephyrnet