February 22, 2024 – 4:51 pm
Modern supersonic bomber Tu-160M on February 22 – Photograph: Dmitry Azarov/Sputnik/Reuters
With Russian President Vladimir Putin on board, a modern Russian military supersonic Tu-160M heavy bomber made a forty-minute flight in Russia on Thursday, MTI reported.
The bomber, which can also be equipped with nuclear missiles, took off from the airfield of the Tupolev Aircraft Plant in Kazan. Footage shown on Russian state television showed the huge plane It rises into the air.
In 2015, the Russian President decided on a program to rebuild the Soviet Tu-160 (NATO Blackjack) aircraft with variable wing geometry, in the form of a modern Tu-160M. The Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber carrier forms the basis of the Russian Air Force's long-range aircraft fleet. Designed for nuclear and conventional destruction of long-range targets.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the plane's route had been classified as a military secret, but said Putin would be on a roughly 40-minute flight.
The Russian President previously flew an older model of the Tu-160 bomber in a military exercise in 2005. Under the contract concluded in 2018, ten units of the modern Tu-160M missile carrier were ordered for the Russian Air Force with a deadline of 2027.
