Interestingly, a Russian engineer shed a little more light on the new systems in the Tu-160M2. Well, two years ago he asked for asylum in the US and in return he revealed some tidbits about this plane. The Tupolev plant introduced new elements of integrated modular avionics (IMA), and developed new on-board systems, computing systems, control equipment, an inertial navigation system, an electronic warfare system, fuel measurement systems and weapons control systems.
The first version of this significantly modernized bomber completed its maiden flight from the Kazan Aviation Plant airport in January 2022, and second unit in December 2022. Both aircraft are currently operational as part of the long-range aviation fleet, with a third unit currently being assembled.
The Tu-160M2 version has four NK-32 twin-flow turbojet engines with a thrust of 137.3 kN each. The length of the machine is over 54 meters, the height is 13.25 meters, and the wingspan is almost 56 meters. The bomber weighs 117,000 kilograms and can carry less than 30,000 kilograms of weapons. The equipment can reach a speed of up to 2,200 km/h and a ceiling of 15,600 meters.
With a full fuel tank covers almost 14,000 kilometershowever, it is usually used at distances of 2,000 – 7,300 kilometers at 1.5 Ma. It can fly in the air for 15 hours without refueling. To rise into the sky, it needs a runway of 900 to 2,200 meters, and for landing, a runway of at least 1,200 meters is required.
The machine has two bomb bays measuring 11.28 by 1.92 meters. In the basic variant it is installed 12 Kh-55SM cruise missileswhich can be equipped with 200 kT nuclear warheads or 24 Ch-15P air-to-surface missiles. According to reports, the bomber was used by Russia during the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Source: geekweek.interia.pl
