Back in the early-to-mid-’80s the Backfire was the Soviet’s premier supersonic bomber, built in response to the USAF B-1. Today we still fly B-1s and the Backfire is almost completely out of service. The Communists built mostly crap throughout the Cold War, but they built a LOT of each kind of crap to make up for it. The crews that flew these things (and other Soviet aircraft) had to know that they were always just one equipment failure away from death.
Glad to see another one bite the dust
I always thought B-1 was a response to a Backfire.