Russian strategic bombers patrol skies over eastern coast of South America

Interfax.com (excerpt) ^ | September 16, 2008

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers have patrolled the eastern coast of South America, aide to Russian Air Force commander Col. Lieut. Vladimir Drik told Interfax-AVN.

"The aircraft took off from the Libertador military airfield in Venezuela at 4.30 p.m. Moscow time [on September 15]. They flew over neutral waters along the eastern coast of South America in the direction of Brazil. They landed at an airfield in Venezuela at 10 p.m.," Drik said.

The Alexander Molodchy and Vasily Senko bombers were in air for about six hours. The crewmembers practiced synchronization and various elements of air training, as well as increased their training level, Drik said.

~ snip ~

[Theophilus]

Bombers patrol? Poor choice of words. Bombers visit?

[hershey]

Russia/Chavez’s gift to the Western Hemisphere. (Looks like One Happy Hemisphere has a problem. Somebody call GW and the CFR.)

[Yossarian]

Monroe Doctrine, anyone?

[BroJoeK]

Tupolev TU-160:

And, on board a TU-160:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin talks after arriving in Olenegorsk on board the Tupolev TU-160 strategic bomber ‘‘Pavel Taran on Tuesday. Putin flew in Russia’s most potent bomber and took part in the launch of cruise missile in the Arctic north, dusting off the military image he cultivated when he first came to power. — Reuters"

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

We're supposed to be afraid of two unarmed Rooski bombers flying circles along the Venezuelan coast?

That's rich!

[Yo-Yo]

I never noticed the shark fins inboard of the wing pivot points. Antennae?

[jerry557]

I bet you $50 Obama doesnt know what the monroe doctrine is. He didnt even know that Russia has a veto on the security council.

[valkyry1]

My guess is they deploy in flight to aid longitudinal stability and/or to clean up the airflow over the wing going back into the tailplanes.

[ops33]

One article I read said they only have 16 of these bombers.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

That’s probably about right, and I wonder how many of them are airworthy at any given time, knowing how temperamental our own B-1’s are.

[ops33]

Probably just those 2.

[Yo-Yo]

No, judging by the way they are faired into the wing, they don't deploy. They're fixed. Also, I don't see them on other Tu-160 photos, so they're not part of the original design.

However, you could be right in that they were added for directonal stability later on in the Tu-160's life.

[SampleMan]

I just noticed those too. They are huge for antennas. I’m assuming that there were lateral stability issues and they got added to the design. They may also be there to create shock waves or rather make the overall supersonic flow less chaotic.

Really just guessing though.

[LSUfan]

I note that the Russkies use the drogue and chute method for inflight refueling. Does anyone other than the USAF use the other method?

[Robe]

Vortex generators, is my guess. Enhances lift by disturbing the laminar flow over the wing

[SampleMan]

Perhaps, but they are huge for that. All of the vortex generators that I’ve ever seen (like on the A-4) are only inches long, as beyond that they are outside of laminar flow effect.

[Yo-Yo]

AFAIK, the USAF is alone in their use of a flying boom. The rest of the world uses hose-and-drogue.

Flying Boom was originally to allow higher fuel flow rates to top off strategic bombers faster than able via hose-and-drogue (or probe-and-drogue if you are so inclined.)

The F-35 can be equipped either way, and someone pointed me to this study that suggests future USAF fighter aircraft, which cannot take on fuel as fast as a boom is able to deliver, should be equipped with probes instead, especially after the USAF tanker fleet is converted to a combination of hose and boom, ala KC-10, some KC-135R, and KC-X.

Especially with the modified KC-135Rs and the KC-X, two and three aircraft respectively can refuel simultaneously.

Makes sense to me, which is why it will never be adopted by the USAF.

[Yo-Yo]

Aha! The "sharkfins" are part of the swing wing's root at the trailing edge that flips up at full sweep. Never knew that before.

http://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160.htm

The variable-geometry wing has three positions. 20 degree sweep for landing, 35 degree for cruise and 65 degree sweep for high speed flight. The inner portion of the wing forms a vertical plane for directional stability when the wings are fully swept backwards. When the wing is swept forwards this portion lies flat to fill the gap between wing and fuselage and forms the most inner part of the flap.

Line drawing here but not posted because it is huge and loads very slowly. The line drawing shows full sweep and that portion of the swing wing root that folds upwards.