# Tupolev Tu-160 (Ту-160)
**Tupolev Tu-160** (Ту-160), [NATO reporting name](https://www.edgepedia.org/nato-reporting-name) **Blackjack**, is a Soviet and Russian supersonic, variable-sweep-wing strategic bomber designed to carry long-range cruise missiles, and it is the largest supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation and the heaviest combat aircraft in the world[1](https://uacrussia.ru/en/aircraft/lineup/military/Tu-160/). Work on an intercontinental strategic multi-mode missile-carrying aircraft began at the Tupolev Design Bureau in the early 1970s[1](https://uacrussia.ru/en/aircraft/lineup/military/Tu-160/), the type first flew in December 1981, and it entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1987[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). Russia continues to operate the type and is producing a modernized version, the Tu-160M[3](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/first-strategic-missile-carrier-tu-160m-making-its-maiden-flight/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Role | Intercontinental strategic missile-carrying bomber armed with long-range cruise missiles[1](https://uacrussia.ru/en/aircraft/lineup/military/Tu-160/) |
| First flight / service entry | 18 December 1981 (prototype 70-01); operational with the 184th Heavy Bomber Regiment from April 1987[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm) |
| Dimensions | Length 54.10 m; wingspan 55.70 m unswept and 35.60 m fully swept; crew of four[4](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml) |
| Engines | Four Kuznetsov NK-32 afterburning turbofans; the Tu-160M uses the upgraded NK-32-02[5](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/tu-160m-makes-first-flight-with-new-engines/) |
| Performance | Top speed of 2,200 km/h reached in testing; subsonic cruise with supersonic dash at almost Mach 2 at 18,300 m (60,000 ft)[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm) • [6](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html) |
| Armament | Two internal bomb bays with rotary launchers; standard load of 12 cruise missiles, including Kh-55SM and newer missiles with a range of more than 6,500 km[4](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml) • [7](https://apnews.com/article/0255d844b06e11c39920cc2acdb53406) |
| Production | 35 aircraft built (3 prototypes in Moscow, 32 series aircraft at Kazan)[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm) |
## Design and development
The Soviet requirement for a new strategic bomber emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, after the American Advanced Manned Strategic Aircraft program that produced the B-1 and the ongoing XB-70 project prompted a matching Soviet specification[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). A design competition followed. The Tupolev design, developed from Myasishchev's variable-geometry M-18 proposal after that bureau's team was judged too small to carry the program, competed against the Myasishchev M-18 and the [Sukhoi T-4](https://www.edgepedia.org/sukhoi-t-4); the preliminary design and full-scale mock-up were accepted by a state committee in 1977[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). Aleksei Tupolev led the design in its initial period, and Valentin Bliznyuk was appointed chief designer in 1975[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm).
Armament planning changed the aircraft's shape. The original concept carried two Kh-45 missiles, but when the Soviets learned of the American AGM-86 cruise missile the Kh-45 requirement was dropped in favor of a strategic version of the Kh-55, giving the Tu-160 its long internal weapon bays and a standard load of 12 Kh-55SM missiles[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm).
The NK-25 engine of the Tu-22M3 was considered first, but its fuel consumption required a new development, the two-stage-turbine NK-32[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). The NK-32 is a low-bypass turbofan, and a non-afterburning variant was described as the largest and most powerful turbofan ever fitted to a bomber[8](https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jul/22/2002160337/-1/-1/0/CUWS_OUTREACH1290.PDF).
## Airframe and flight characteristics
The Tu-160 is a dartlike machine with a slender fuselage, variable-sweep outer wings with long fixed root panels, and four afterburning turbofans in widely separated pairs in underwing ducts with wedge intakes[6](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html). The outer wings sweep back manually to 20, 35, and 65 degrees; when the wings are fully swept, the inboard portion of each trailing-edge flap hinges upward to form a large fence at the wing root[6](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html). At minimum sweep the wingspan reaches 55.7 meters, and at maximum sweep 35.6 meters[9](https://thephillypi.com/why-variable-sweep-wings-survived/).
The variable geometry gives the aircraft good handling and performance both at low speeds and in supersonic flight[4](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml). Its intended mission profile combines a high-altitude standoff role carrying air-launched cruise missiles with supersonic dash at almost Mach 2 at 18,300 m and transonic flight at low altitude[6](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html). During one test flight the type reached a top speed of 2,200 km/h[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm).
The aircraft is about 20 percent longer than the American B-1B, with greater unrefueled combat radius and much higher maximum speed[6](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html). The resemblance to the B-1, particularly the canceled B-1A, has been attributed to convergent design choices: variable-geometry wings were the best available solution for combining subsonic and supersonic performance, and the Tu-160 lacks the B-1's small nose vanes because it was intended to operate both at high and low altitude rather than specialize in low-level penetration[10](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08850607.2022.2109081).
## Armament
The Tu-160 carries its payload internally in two tandem bomb bays in the center fuselage, each normally fitted with a rotary launcher compatible with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles[4](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml). The standard load is 12 cruise missiles; Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed in 2023 that each bomber carries 12 of the new long-range missiles[7](https://apnews.com/article/0255d844b06e11c39920cc2acdb53406). The Kh-55SM missiles in service are intended for stationary targets whose programmed coordinates are entered into the missile's memory before the bomber takes off[11](https://arms-russia.ru/armiya-rossii/bombardirovshhiki/tu-160/).
During state tests completed in mid-1989, four launches of the Kh-55, the aircraft's principal weapon, were performed[12](https://testpilot.ru/russia/tupolev/160/index_s.php).
## Service history
The first prototype, 70-01, flew at Zhukovsky on 18 December 1981 with test pilot Boris Veremey at the controls; the first supersonic flight followed three months later[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). Series production was initially assigned to a plant in [Ulyanovsk](https://www.edgepedia.org/ulyanovsk) but was transferred to the Kazan Aviation Production Association (KAPO) in favor of An-124 production; the first series aircraft flew from Kazan on 10 October 1984, and the first service aircraft took off from Kazan on 15 August 1986[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm).
In April 1987 the Tu-160 began entering service with the 184th Guards Heavy Bomber Regiment at Pryluky in Ukraine; the regiment had 19 Tu-160s by the beginning of December 1991[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm).
**Post-Soviet division.** A total of 35 aircraft had been built by the end of 2000, comprising 3 prototypes assembled in Moscow and 32 series aircraft built at Kazan[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). When the Soviet Union dissolved, 20 of the completed aircraft were in Ukraine, 6 were operational with the [Russian Air Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/russian-air-force), and 6 test aircraft remained at the Zhukovsky flight test center[4](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml). Ukraine rarely flew its bombers and, unable to sustain them, returned eight to Russia in 1999 and 2000 in exchange for a US$285 million deduction from its natural gas debt to Russia, while the remaining airframes were scrapped under international inspection, the last in 2001[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm). Russian production had stopped after President Yeltsin announced in January 1992 that no further strategic bombers would be built, leaving four unfinished airframes at Kazan[4](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml).
## Tu-160M modernization
Russia restarted the production line in the 2010s. Under a government contract between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Tupolev, the Tu-160M design documentation was fully digitized, the titanium vacuum welding process was restored, airframe component manufacturing resumed, and a new industrial cooperation was arranged; a plant for titanium electron-beam welding and vacuum annealing was put into operation at Kazan[3](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/first-strategic-missile-carrier-tu-160m-making-its-maiden-flight/). The Tu-160M is a thoroughly modernized version of the aircraft with upgraded engines, controls, avionics, and weapons[3](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/first-strategic-missile-carrier-tu-160m-making-its-maiden-flight/). Its NK-32-02 engines are developed and manufactured by the [United Engine Corporation](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-engine-corporation)[5](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/tu-160m-makes-first-flight-with-new-engines/).
Russia's Aerospace Force planned to buy a minimum of 50 new Tu-160M2s, with deliveries of three planes annually slated to begin in 2023, the year serial production was expected to launch.[8](https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jul/22/2002160337/-1/-1/0/CUWS_OUTREACH1290.PDF) In February 2024 President Vladimir Putin flew as a passenger in one of the first revamped Tu-160M bombers at the Kazan plant, which had received state orders for the modernized version[13](https://apnews.com/article/facfaaacba57bfce3d61d810a426ec0d).
## Combat use and vulnerability
The Tu-160, together with the Tu-95 and Tu-22, has regularly launched cruise missiles in the war in Ukraine[7](https://apnews.com/article/0255d844b06e11c39920cc2acdb53406). Russia relies on its Soviet-built Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles as part of its deterrent posture[14](https://apnews.com/article/bf50d3155369cc0a5f12ef7805bf2340).
On June 1, 2025, Ukrainian intelligence and special-operations planners launched truck-hidden first-person-view drones near four Russian strategic bomber bases across Russia; within minutes multiple bombers, including Tu-160s, Tu-95s, Tu-22Ms, and A-50 early warning aircraft, were burning on their parking stands in the operation Kyiv code-named Operation Spider Web[15](https://www.csis.org/analysis/relative-superiority-drone-age-mcravens-playbook-meets-ukraines-airfield-assaults).
After the raid, Russian use of the Tu-160 against Ukraine increased. Reporting on Russia's logistics network noted that since Operation Spider Web the Russians began using Tu-160s to strike Ukraine because only five to six Tu-95MS remained capable of launching about 20 to 25 missiles per attack[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/05/25/kyiv-attacks-the-complex-logistics-network-behind-russia-s-war-machine_6753798_4.html).
## Variants and proposed derivatives
A commercialized, demilitarized version, the Tu-160SK, was proposed as the carrier component of the Burlak aviation space launch system, carrying a Burlak-Diana two-stage rocket under the fuselage on a centerline mount; the system was announced at the 1994 Singapore Air Show and development continued even after the German government withdrew funding in 1998[6](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html). The Tu-160 made its international debut at the 1995 [Paris Air Show](https://www.edgepedia.org/paris-air-show) displayed as a space carrier with a mock-up of the Burlak vehicle under its belly[2](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm).
## References
1. [UAC :: Tu-160, United Aircraft Corporation](https://uacrussia.ru/en/aircraft/lineup/military/Tu-160/)
2. [Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack' History, MILAVIA](https://www.milavia.net/aircraft/tu-160/tu-160_history.htm)
3. [First Strategic Missile Carrier Tu-160M Making its Maiden Flight, Rostec](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/first-strategic-missile-carrier-tu-160m-making-its-maiden-flight/)
4. [Aerospaceweb.org Aircraft Museum: Tu-160 'Blackjack'](https://aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/bomber/tu160/index.shtml)
5. [Tu-160M Makes First Flight with New Engines, Rostec](https://rostec.ru/en/media/news/tu-160m-makes-first-flight-with-new-engines/)
6. [TUPOLEV Tu-160, Jane's Information Group (archived)](https://janes.migavia.com/rus/tupolev/tu-160.html)
7. [North Korea's Kim Jong Un inspects Russian bombers and a warship, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/0255d844b06e11c39920cc2acdb53406)
8. [Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies Outreach Journal Issue 1290](https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jul/22/2002160337/-1/-1/0/CUWS_OUTREACH1290.PDF)
9. [Why Variable-Sweep Wings Survived On Large Bombers](https://thephillypi.com/why-variable-sweep-wings-survived/)
10. [Innovators, Copycats, or Pragmatists? Soviet Industrial Espionage and Innovation in the Military Aircraft Industry, Studies in Intelligence](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08850607.2022.2109081)
11. [Ту-160, Армия России](https://arms-russia.ru/armiya-rossii/bombardirovshhiki/tu-160/)
12. [Ту-160. На службе Отечеству, testpilot.ru](https://testpilot.ru/russia/tupolev/160/index_s.php)
13. [Putin takes a flight in nuclear-capable bomber ahead of election, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/facfaaacba57bfce3d61d810a426ec0d)
14. [Russia flaunts its many doomsday weapons, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/bf50d3155369cc0a5f12ef7805bf2340)
15. [Relative Superiority in the Drone Age, CSIS](https://www.csis.org/analysis/relative-superiority-drone-age-mcravens-playbook-meets-ukraines-airfield-assaults)
16. [Kyiv attacks: The complex logistics network behind Russia's war machine, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/05/25/kyiv-attacks-the-complex-logistics-network-behind-russia-s-war-machine_6753798_4.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Transport and spaceflight › Aviation › Military aviation › Military aircraft by type and era › Bomber and strike aircraft › Strategic and heavy bombers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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