70 years ago, the Soviet strategic bomber Tu-95 took to the skies for the first time, piloted by test pilot Aleksey Perelet.

The development of this aircraft began in the second half of the 1940s.

In order to achieve military-strategic parity with the United States in the USSR, active work was then carried out to create an atomic bomb.

In parallel with this, a new bomber was also being designed - a carrier for nuclear weapons.

The first result of this work was the Tu-4 bomber.

It was created on the basis of the American B-29 aircraft, several copies of which ended up in the USSR during World War II.

The Tu-4 was put into service in 1949, but the practical range of its flight was 5.1 thousand km, which did not allow it to deliver a potential strike on the territory of the United States.

In addition, the Tu-4 had another drawback - its maximum speed was only about 558 km / h, which made the aircraft vulnerable to a new generation of fighter aircraft.

In addition, this speed was insufficient for the bomber to leave the site of the atomic bomb in time.

Therefore, in parallel with its development, the Tupolev Design Bureau was developing a fundamentally new bomber with improved performance in terms of speed and range - the Tu-95.

Carrier of the Tsar Bomba

One of the main issues in the creation of the Tu-95 was the choice of the type of engine: turbojet or turboprop.

To provide the necessary parameters in terms of range and speed, the turboprop power plant turned out to be optimal.

It was more economical and allowed the aircraft to make a long flight without refueling.

In October 1951, the construction of the first Tu-95 model began at the experimental plant No. 156.

A year later, it was ready, and in disassembled form it was delivered to the flight test and development base of the Design Bureau in Zhukovsky for final assembly and preparation for testing.

The first flight, which took place on November 12, 1952, lasted 50 minutes and took place at an altitude of 1150 m. Before the end of the year, several more test flights were completed.

By mid-May 1953, the prototype managed to complete 16 flights with a total flying time of about 21 hours, but then the tests were interrupted by a disaster.

On May 11, the first flight model crashed near Noginsk.

The commander of the ship Alexey Perelyot, two crew members and a technical specialist who participated in the tests were killed.

Seven other participants in the flight escaped.

Subsequently, test pilot Alexei Perelet was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his contribution to the creation of the Tu-95.

The cause of the crash was a fire in one of the 2TV-2F engines, caused by a technology violation in the manufacture of the gear reducer.

This problem was taken into account when creating the second flight model, which used a different engine - TV-12 (NK-12).

Flight tests and refinement of the second prototype ended on January 20, 1956, and in September 1957, the Tu-95 was put into service.

The maximum speed of the Tu-95 was 882 km / h, the practical flight range was 12,100 km, the practical ceiling was 11,900 m. The crew of the "strategist" consisted of eight to nine people.

Four NK-12 TVDs were installed on the aircraft, the thrust of each of which was 12 thousand kgf.

The Tu-95 could lift up to 12 thousand kg of combat load, which mainly consisted of free-falling high-explosive or nuclear bombs of caliber from 1500 to 9000 kg.

In addition, for defense against enemy aircraft, the Tu-95 was equipped with six twin 23-mm AM-23 guns.

Their total ammunition was 2.5 thousand rounds.

  • In the cockpit for the shooter of the Soviet strategic bomber Tu-95.

    Photographed by pilots of the American F-4 Phantom fighter

  • RIA News

In the future, the aircraft was able to take on board also missile weapons of various types.

Following the first serial model, another modification of the Tu-95 with improved characteristics, the Tu-95M, appeared almost immediately.

The thrust of each engine on it was 15 thousand kgf, the maximum speed of the aircraft reached 905 km / h, and the practical flight range was 13,200 km.

In total, there are several dozen variants of the Tu-95, including missile carriers, reconnaissance aircraft, anti-submarine defense aircraft, training Tu-95s and a flying laboratory with a nuclear reactor.

It is worth noting that it was the Tu-95 that participated in the tests in 1961 of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind, also nicknamed the "Tsar Bomba".  

On the basis of the Tu-95, a passenger intercontinental liner, the Tu-114, was also created.  

In total, Soviet engineers produced about 500 Tu-95s of various modifications, as well as about 100 Tu-142s (a long-range anti-submarine aircraft based on the Tu-95).

70 years in service

During the serial construction of the Tu-95, it was repeatedly modernized, which allowed it to remain in service to this day.

One of the last upgrades of the project took place in 2020, when the Tu-95MSM was presented to the public.

  • Tu-95MSM

  • RIA News

  • © Vadim Savitsky

According to the United Aircraft Corporation, the updated Tu-95 is equipped with new weapon control systems, modern flight and navigation equipment, an on-board communications system, a radar station and objective control means.

The engines have also been upgraded.

In 2020, the UEC-Kuznetsov company reported that the resource of the updated NK-12MPM engine for the Tu-95 should increase four times.

As a result of modernization, the Tu-95 has significantly increased navigation accuracy and reliability indicators, extended the life of the aviation complex, and improved takeoff and landing characteristics.

As noted on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, today Russian Tu-95s regularly patrol "over the neutral waters of the Arctic, Atlantic, Black Sea, Pacific Ocean, both from base and operational airfields."

“During such flights, various issues of flight crews and various elements of professional training are worked out,” the website says.

Despite its considerable age, the first combat use of the Tu-95 took place relatively recently - on November 17, 2015.

Then the Tu-95MS, together with the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3, launched a massive missile and bomb attack on terrorist positions in Syria.

"Nuclear Deterrent Tool"

According to the honored military pilot of the Russian Federation, retired Major General Vladimir Popov, the creation of the Tu-95 was an important achievement for the USSR, because thanks to this, the Soviet Union secured strategic parity with the United States.

“The Tu-95 was created as a strategic aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

It was a time of tough confrontation with the West, so a "long arm" was needed that could deliver nuclear, thermonuclear and hydrogen bombs to targets on the North American continent.

And given that it was possible to refuel at the transfer points of the Warsaw Pact countries or in Cuba, in fact, he was able to fly to anywhere in the world.

For the enemy, I think that was the number one threat.

Before the mass production of intercontinental ballistic missiles began, the Tu-95 was the main instrument of nuclear deterrence, ”Popov said in an interview with RT.

  • A pilot in the cockpit of a Tu-95 strategic missile-carrying bomber of the Russian Space Forces during a sortie to launch an airstrike on IS targets in Syria

  • RIA News

  • © Russian Ministry of Defense

He called the great modernization resource an important advantage of the Tu-95.

“This is the most modernized device, which allows you to place both a new navigation system and an aiming base on its board.

Moreover, he is a carrier of nuclear weapons, can take free-fall bombs, guided bombs, adjustable bombs, missiles.

It has such a wide range of aviation ammunition that it meets all modern requirements.

The same applies to flight performance, load capacity indicators.

In principle, this aircraft is a model of efficiency and reliability.

Until now, among turboprop aircraft, it has no equal, ”says Vladimir Popov.

In turn, aviation historian and writer Nikolai Bodrikhin attributed low fuel consumption to the main advantages of the Tu-95.

“Its colossal difference is that it is a turboprop and consumes about five times less fuel than, for example, the American turbojet B-52.

This quality over the years of operation has made it possible to save huge amounts of fuel.

This is the gigantic legacy of Andrei Tupolev, it's just a brilliant solution, ”the expert emphasized in an interview with RT.

From his point of view, the Tu-95 will serve in the Russian Air Force for a long time.

“These are eternal machines that can be improved in terms of engine building and other equipment.

I think the Tu-95 will last at least 20 years.

So he will continue to disturb potential adversaries with his constant flights in the Alaska and Pacific Ocean region, ”says Bodrikhin.

A similar opinion is shared by Vladimir Popov.

“Tu-95 is still a worthy representative of the air force.

It can at any time launch dozens of missiles that are able to go around the terrain, independently determine the target, and maneuver.

This is a machine that, in terms of the quality of its tactical and technical data, has broken many records, including world ones.

Even today it is the fastest turboprop aircraft.

Of course, we have a more modern model - the Tu-160, which is a supersonic missile carrier with variable wing geometry.

But Tu-95 is too early to write off.

For another 20-25 years, he will be able to defend Russia, ”concluded the expert.