The commander of the 37th Air Army, which comprises Russian long-range and strategic bombers, in his interview to the VPK newspaper, clarified the situation with bomber modernizations and construction plans.
The Tu-160 aircraft that the 37th army will recieve later this month is indeed an old plane that just underwent some modernization. As Gen.-Lt. Khvorov mentioned, the modernization was not as deep as the Air Force hoped it would be - the bomber did not get new avionics, although it will be capable of using conventional weapons.
According to Khvorov, all Tu-160 bomber will eventually get a complete overhaul, which will include new (digital) avionics and upgrade to conventional-weapon capabilities. The first aircraft of this kind will probably be the new Tu-160 that the Air Force is planning to get by the end of 2006. As far as I understand, this will be the 15th Tu-160 aircraft (not 16th as I suggested earlier).
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Yes , I think in the interview Khvorov states that except for the external structure every thing internal will be modernised completely , he talks about lighter avionics , making more space etc.
Eventually how many Tu-160 Bombers do the Russians plan to have ??? Do they have any specfic numbers which they are looking at to stabilise the Tu-160 force.
There are 14 Tu-160 today and oone more is expected this year. I think it will stop at 15 bombers.
I want to know if the Tu-160 retain the capability to launch SRAM. Or their only role is strategic attack with ALCM? If this is the case, the “kickbacks” are being only used by the Tu-22M3 or they are phased out?
As far as I understand, both aircraft can carry Kh-15 short-range missiles - 24 on Tu-160 and 6-10 on Tu-22M3.