Posted on 12/21/2019 7:51:09 AM PST by tlozo
A Russian bomber crew successfully landed their stricken aircraft in a field after the one of the airplane’s engines failed. The Tu-22M3 bomber was put down away from populated areas and Russia’s air force is now trying to figure out how to recover it for repairs. The incident is just the latest in a long line of disasters—big and small—plaguing the Russian military as it tries to wring as much use out of old, outdated equipment.
The incident, according to Russian state media outlet TASS, took place in southern Russia at the Chkalov State Flight Testing Center. The two-man crew, discovering that an engine had failed, guided the airplane away from populated areas and performed a belly landing. Neither of the crew members were injured but the aircraft itself reportedly sustained some damage.
The Tu-22M3 bomber, known as “Backfire” to NATO, is a long-range bomber originally designed to strike the continental U.S. with nuclear weapons. The aircraft were produced in the 1970s and 1980s and updated versions currently serve with the Russian Air Force. The bombers were recently used to strike targets in Syria. More from Popular Mechanics
The incident is the third involving a Tu-22M3 in three years. In 2017 a Backfire crashed on takeoff, losing a wing. In January of 2019, a Tu-22M3 landing killed the three-person flight crew.
The crash in Astrakan is also just the latest in a series of accidents and disasters involving Russian military equipment. Last week, the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov caught fire during a planned upgrade in port. In July a fire swept through the Russian spy submarine Losharik, killing fourteen sailors. In late 2018, Russia’s largest floating drydock, PD-50 sank, narrowly taking Admiral Kuznetsov with it, and two days ago another floating drydock, PD-16, also sank.
A common denominator among these accidents is aging equipment. Almost all of the equipment involved in these disasters was made (or in the case of PD-50 purchased) by the Soviet Union decades ago. Russia is stuck with the dilemma of trying to keep aging bombers flying and aircraft carriers sailing to prop up its military power, sometimes with tragic results for Russian military personnel.
Old equipment is not necessarily less reliable—the U.S. Air Force has flown the same B-52 bombers and KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling planes for more than 60 years. The difference is that Soviet equipment was never meant to last for three decades or more, as Moscow assumed it would replace aircraft like the Backfire on a regular basis.
Now Russia has not only lacked the funds to buy new bombers, but there was a time after the fall of the Soviet Union when it could not maintain the equipment it had. Many Russian aircraft are likely maintained at a level less than what the U.S. Air Force would consider acceptable, with predictable—and tragic—results.
Sometimes, but not always. Note UAW-built crap piles as one example, the recent and appalling Remington pistols as another.
The big difference here is that the Russians live within a budget.
Argue against that premise at your own peril.
People saying Russia is warmongering aren’t paying attention.
Although there was a serious reduction of Russian military expenditure after the Soviet collapse the military was really defunded and reduced since Putin took power.
It is now about 10% of 1987 strength.
The only forces seriously developed are small rapid-reaction forces to pull Syria-like operation and a nuclear deterrent.
The premise that Russia is going to invade Poland or Germany let alone US is raving insanity.
Warmongering Russia is a myth nurtured to justify a NATO self-licking ice-cream cone.
The big difference here is that the Russians live within a budget.
I always thought B-1 was a response to a Backfire.
If you’re of the generation I am there’s a great Carl Riener movie from the ‘60’s called “The Russians Are Coming’’. Say’s it all about the Russian military.
Equipment made by the Russians during the era of communism was a lot of garbage produced by enslaved, despairing peoples who knew they lived in a rotten, corrupted society and a brutal police state. “The state pretends to pay us so we pretend to work’’ the saying went. In addition millions of those workers were chronic drunks. For a good read on this read Viktor Blenko’s “MiG Pilot’’.
Tu-22M3 bomber, known as “Backfire” to NATO, is a long-range bomber originally designed to strike the continental U.S. with nuclear weapons.
Which begs the question, HOw reliable and stable are Russian nukes?
Thousands of nukes.
Even if of or several of their nukes went off in their silo’s, or where ever they are stored, it would not be good.
Course they may have their own General Turdgeson.
The majority of Soviet-era aircraft have had one major hamstringing ... they”ve never been rightfully ‘blooded’, as most of the aircraft of the West. Therefore, they have aged as one who sat on the couch, in uniform and with gear, by the ever silent telephone.
The population of Russia is decreasing by 750 daily.
I can see the maintenance issues, it is a much higher performance aircraft than a B-52, so higher stresses mean shorter life.
If they use one, the world is over. No one will do it
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