Posted on 08/16/2016 6:09:33 PM PDT by Mariner
At the end of 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry will receive the first delivery of the renewed NK-32 engines for the Tu-160M2 strategic missile-carrying bombers.
According to the developers, the new engine will help the plane fly up to the stratosphere at an altitude of 60,000 feet.
"The new NK-32 version can work not only as a reactive plane engine but also as a rocket engine. Thanks to this, the Tu-160M2 will be able to cruise at a height where no enemy anti-aircraft system can strike it," a source in the Russian defense industry said.
The modernized plane's first flight will take place in 2018.
According to Russian air force chief Viktor Bondarev, the Defense Ministry plans to buy about 50 Tu-160M2 planes.
Serial construction of the aircraft will begin in 2021.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Of course, that goes for the original B-1, too.
Not any more. The only things we have that can do that are naval ships. There are no major CONUS land-based systems that can do that and we took the air-launched systems that could do it and scrapped them.
My uncle was in the air force in the 60s and 70s - he repaired flight instruments. Regularly an instrument that was rated to fly at a max height that was above the capabilities of the airplane would break. For example, an instrument rated for 30k feet would be installed in an aircraft with a declared ceiling of 25k feet. Yet when the plane landed, the instrument would be broken...any inquiry he made as to why was met with shrugged shoulders. His conclusion: the air force keeps its true capabilities close to the vest.
The B-52 has been capable of operating at 50K feet (acknowledged) since 1952.
Wikipedia: The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-jet engine, ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet), all-weather intelligence gathering.
Regards,
That would be a fair bet.
Video mentions ( then major )LTC Henry John “Dutch” Deutschendorf (1920 - 1982). Most know his son, Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. by his stage name, John Denver.
The U-2/TR-1/U-2R is not an offensive platform. The article was talking about a bomber that would be multiengined, have multiple crewmembers and a payload that would make it much heavier.
Thanks for posting that video link. The external center tank on that beast is almost as big as the fuselage! It looks like it never gets jettisoned, either. The drag from that monster must be tremendous. Could the B-58 get supersonic with that big tank slung underneath? The B-28 fuselage used the Whitcomb Area Rule to reduce the aircraft’s drag at transonic and supersonic speeds. You don’t see the pinched fuselage waist any more because today’s engines are so powerful.
Yes, that beast of a tank could be jettisoned. Not only did it hold fuel, but it also held the bombs that the Hustler could drop. And yes, it could reach supersonic speeds with the tank attached.
SM3 is only exoatmospheric. However, SM6 is listed by Wikipedia as having a service ceiling at 110k ft or more. Heck, even good old patriot is listed as reaching 79k plus. Sure, going up top means shorter horizontal range - all your energy goes to altitude not distance. But then these are mobile systems, you just park them near the targets...
Don’t know the specs, but I recall SR-71 pilots had to wear space suits.
"The new NK-32 version can work not only as a reactive plane engine but also as a rocket engine. Thanks to this, the Tu-160M2 will be able to cruise at a height where no enemy anti-aircraft system can strike it," a source in the Russian defense industry said."
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60K Feet? Invulnerable? A SR-71 could drop a rock on it...
Those dope-smoking engine guys should ask their own missileer buddies the altitude of Francis Gary Powers' U-2 when they shot it down -- 'way back in 1960.
And, they should check out the operational altitude of the RB-57F -- several of which -- (with Nationalist Chinese pilots) were shot down over Red China...
Supposedly there was only one left - I thought there was one in Alabama years ago but I didn’t have time to see it except from a distance. Thought it was a B-58, now wondering if it was something else (next to the USS Alabama).
Anyways, one pic I saw had one B-58, maybe the one you found - engines removed - fairly bare-boned. Definitely needs a major restoration and in a museum.
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