ARCTIC OCEAN — Two Russian strategic missile carriers, which are the fastest bombers in the world, conducted a successful flight over neutral waters.
The footage was released by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation showing the scheduled flight which took place over the Arctic Ocean.
Both the Tu-160 strategic missile carriers took off before embarking on their 12-hour journey which went over the Barents Sea, Greenland and the Norwegian Sea.
“The flight duration was about 12 hours,” as per an official report by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. “Fighter escort was provided by the crews of the naval aviation of the Northern Fleet.”
The video goes on to show different moments of the journey as the pilots film the beautiful landscape before the jets and are seen safely landing at their destination.
The report added that it is not uncommon to have long-range aviation pilots fly over neutral waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Black or Baltic Seas, and the Pacific Ocean.
As per the Guinness World Records, the Tupolev Tu-160 is the largest military aircraft by weight and is considered the fastest bomber ever used reaching a top speed of Mach 2.05 (1,560 mph).
“The heaviest bomber in service is the Russian Tupolev Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’ bomber, which has a maximum take-off weight of 275 tonnes (606,270 lb) and a maximum speed of around Mach 2.05 at high altitude (2,511 km/h, or 1,560 mph),” said the institution in a report.
“Its empty weight is 110 tonnes (242,500 lb). It is 54.1 m (177.5 ft) long with a wingspan of 55.7 m (182.7 ft). Although a Boeing 747 has a higher maximum takeoff weight of 397 tonnes (877,200 lb), the ‘Blackjack’ is considerably smaller and crucially, flies more than 2.5 times as fast,” it said.
The maximum take-off weight refers to its total weight when fully loaded with bombs, and in aircraft, terms is an indication of the carrying capacity of the aircraft.
In April 1987, the Tu-160 entered operational service with the 184th Guards Heavy Bomber Regiment located at Pryluky Air Base, Ukrainian SSR. The regiment previously operating Tu-16 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers became the first unit that received the Tu-160.
Squadron deployments to Long Range Aviation began the same month, prior to the Tu-160’s first public appearance in a parade in 1989. In 1989 and 1990, a total of 44 world speed flight records in its weight class were set.
In January 1992, Boris Yeltsin decided to stop the Tu-160’s serial production with 35 aircraft being built at the time. Russia has also unilaterally suspended flights of strategic aviation in remote regions of the world.
(Edited by Saptak Datta and Vaibhav Vishwanath Pawar.)
The post Superfast Russian Bombers In Show Of Strength Over Arctic appeared first on Zenger News.
