Hi to all,

I'm not sure, but these seem like the largest bomber exercises since the time of the Soviet Union

I believe there are eight bomber and one tanker regiments in the 37th Air Army (some 240 aircraft in all?), and for six regiments to be involved in this excercise... yeah, that implies a lot of planes in the air. But are these only small elements from each regiment?

According to Russian news reports, 4 Tu-160s, 12 Tu-95s and 14 Tu-22s, as well as 4 Il-78 tankers, were involved in the exercise.

I have reason to believe that no more than half of the bombers in each regiment, apart from the one equipped with Tu-160s, are serviceable at any given time. In addition to this, sources in Russia tell me that the Kazan' plant cannot repair the Tu-22 fleet, so these aircraft will have to be withdrawn from service in 2012-2014. I would therefore suggest that the Russian government intends to maximise the political utility of its bomber fleet by holding large exercises such as this up to the time that it is forced to scrap the Tu-22s.

Karl, so what is the problem with the TU22, they cant overhaul it? I thought the TU22M3 were relativly new...

Newest cells data from 1992. Furthermore some of them will undergo a midlife modernization according some AF chief statements. Retirement data is probably around 2020 rather than 2012.

Those Tu-22s now in service were manufactured between 1984 and 1991. Their service life was set at 25 years and it has been shortened by poor maintenace in the 1990s. KAPO, apparently, has almost no workforce or functioning machinery left.

Well so it's going to be around 2020, for the tu-22?
I was trying to find a comparison between the tu22 and su34, because i thought they would be similar in strength and range...
Do you guys happen to know what the situation is with the su34? the amount of planes in service? the export possibility?

Even with zero workforce left, assuming 25 years lifespan, via cannibalizing and so on- tricks the 2020 timeline seems to be more realistic than 2012. Anyway, I doubt about the zero-repairing capability. After all, the Ukrainian Tu-160s were “returned to life” after a very bad “living conditions”.
Another story is the (pretty low) priority assigned to such bombers.

A 2020 out-of-service date for the Tu-22s is out of the question, because their wing sweep mechanism is very sensitive to maintenance and weather conditions. They would need a major overhaul just to last the full 25 years.

The Tu-160s were not overhauled, but rather went through an extended series of maintenace checks and repairs, which would not have helped the Tu-22 fleet.

I too share the surprise the Tu-22 fleet will end service so soon. Recently, the Russian Navy transferred all their “Backfire” bombers to Air Force control under the 37th Air Army to facilitate maintenance and support. Surely at least the Tu-22M3 will be retained post 2012? I honestly think this airplane is more important strategically to Russia than the Tu-160’s.

Frank Shuler
USA

I remember my discussion with Frank about the subject. I can’t find the thread. May be Pavel can help us with information. I also remember a short article (may be from RIAN, I’m nor sure) about a program to slightly modernize the Tu-22M3s. Nothing near to the “M5” standard.

Just wanted to correct some of the missinformation regarding the TU-22M3 future.
These airplane as the MIG-31 are going to be further modernized and will have their service life extended well beyoned 2020. You can read that in the Goverment 2015 Programm or other specilized publications.
Both the TU22M3 and the MIG31 are refitted with new electronics and systems. Both planes will be able to deploy in formation with the brand new SU-34 depending on the task. As far as KAPO, they are already doing the refurbishing of the MIG-31's. Acctually few of the very first one's got back in service at the begging of this summer (read in specilized publications in Russian).
As a matter of pure speculation and based on previous design decisions we can assume with better than 50% certainty that there will be a replacemnt of the TU22M3 well before 2020 and it will probably be based on the civilian TU-444 as most of the design work for the type has been done and tested.

More exercises of the 37th Air Army

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070814/71405929.html

Dear Peter,

I am afraid your information has little in common with reality. There are no plans to upgrade the Tu-22s. The so-called "245" project was effectively suspended in 1995 and since then there has been no movement on the issue.

The new MiG-31 version, the MiG-31BM, posesses no commonality with either the Tu-22 or Su-34. The work on this modification is being carried out at NAZ Sokol, not at KAPO. The small number of MiG-31BMs produced thus far are still being flight tested and are not in service with the Russian air force.

As for the Tu-444, that was a typical paper project which has not been heard of since 2003.

Timely article to this discussion in this week’s Aviation Week & Space Technology (August 13, 2007 issue)

Russian Air Force officials stated the Tu-22M3 fleet would be upgraded however the article wasn’t clear if the thought was to “rebuild” the aircraft itself or update the weapons package to include a new precision land attack cruise missile. The aircraft is now only certified to launch the Kh-22 (kitchen) and the Kh-15 (sidekick). The new Sukhoi Su-34 (the old S-27IB) is being produced to eventually replace the Su-24M series tactical fighters and take on some roles now met by the Tu-22M3s. Interesting.

Frank Shuler
USA

Frank, may be you can find the thread where we discussed the 22M3. as far I know there are plans to overhaul some of these bombers. In addition al 22M3 of the Navy were transferred to the AF to facilitate the maintenance & upgrade works. Nevertheless, Karl seems to know much about the issue. My bet? I assume some of them, probably well below 100, will receive some type of upgrade.

Kolokol:

I remember the thread well and our discussions about this remarkable aircraft. I too share your opinion the Tu-22M3 will undergo upgrades and remain in service for a considerable time. It is a unique capability the Russian Air Force needs. Its replacement is years away.

Frank Shuler
USA