Posted on 08/09/2007 8:30:14 AM PDT by Sax
You’re right. The MS is a cruise missile platform. One version has up to 16 missiles on board.
Doesn’t stand much of a chance if intercepted, though.
Actually, that is where it started; the Soviets reverse engineered some interned B-29s. Look up the TU-4. The Bear however is a record-setting design that belongs wholly to the Tupolev bureau.
Shoot. Send an F-102
No. Those days are long-gone. You are thinking of the then Soviet Navy Tu-95RT Bear Ds. All those airframes are now retired.
The Tu-95MS Bear H are operated by the long-range aviation force of the Russian Air Force. Their sole role is long-range air-launched cruise missile carriers. All the airframes were covered by SALT later START and then SORT treaties. The Tu-95MS can carry a maximum of 16 extremely long-range ALCMs. All are new-build airframes with the last being produced in the early 1990s.
The Tu-95MS would be launching its ALCMs from thousands of miles away. Its role is stand-off ALCM launch platform.
And the Russians couldn’t even update the damn thing with jet propulsion?
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