Tupolev Tu-95 Bear Strategic Bomber

Efran Syah       Bomber Aircraft    Comment   

(Fedor Leukhin)

The Tupolev Tu-95 (NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform.

(Russian Ministry of Defence)

First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Union in 1956 and is expected to serve the Russian Aerospace Forces until at least 2040.

(Toshonenov)

The Tu-95 Bear was perhaps the most successful bomber produced by the Soviet aviation, enjoying long service in a variety of roles and configurations.

Russian Tu-95 bomber, accompanied by F / A-18, flies on the aircraft carrier Nimitz on February 9, 2008. (U.S. Navy)

Development of the Tu-95 intercontinental bomber began in the early 1950s after series production of the medium-range Tu-4 started. Initially, several designs were considered, including a modification of the Tu-4 and production of a new aircraft with piston engines.

Prototypes of these aircraft were developed and tested from 1949 through 1951, it was concluded that bombers with piston engines could not provide adequate performance for the intercontinental attack mission. In March 1951 development of the T-4 intercontinental jet bomber began.

However, KB Tupolev did not support the development of a bomber with turbojet engines, believing that the proposed AM-3 jet engines would not provide for the required range of more than 10,000 km.

As an alternative, KB Tupolev proposed an aircraft with four turbo-prop engines that would provide a range of more than 13,000 km and speeds of more than 800 km/h at altitudes of 10,000 meters. The aircraft-design was designated as "95".

(Aleksandr Markin)

The Bear's wings are mid-mounted, swept-back, and tapered with blunt tips. Its engines consist of four turboprops with contrarotating propellers located on the wings. The engine nacelles extend well beyond the wings leading edges.

The fuselage of the Bear is tube-shaped with a rounded nose that tapers to the rear. It also has a stepped cockpit and a tail gun compartment. The tail of the aircraft is a fin that is swept-back and tapered with a square tip.

(Fedor Leukhin)

The Tu-95 houses a large bomb bay at the centre of gravity of the aircraft, which is immediately aft of the wing central torsion box. The Tu-95MS Bear H is capable of carrying six Kh-55 Granat (Nato designation AS-15 Kent) nuclear-armed long-range cruise missiles with a range of 3,000 km. The missiles are mounted on a catapult launch drum in the bomb bay.

Alternatively, the aircraft can carry 14 Kh-SD anti-ship missiles with a range of 600 km or eight conventionally armed Kh-101 air launch cruise missiles, which have a range of up to 3,000 km.

The rear gun compartment is fitted with a twin barrelled GSh-23L cannon. The entry to the rear turret is separate from the main crew entry and is via a ventral hatch.

(Fedor Leukhin)

The aircraft has four Kuznetsov NK-12 engines with contra-rotating propellers. It is the only propeller-powered strategic bomber still in operational use today.

The Tu-95 is one of the loudest military aircraft, particularly because the tips of the propeller blades move faster than the speed of sound. Its distinctive swept-back wings are set at an angle of 35°. The Tu-95 is unique as a propeller-driven aircraft with swept wings that has been built in large numbers.

(Ruiz Aw)

The Tu-95 Bear can climb at the rate of 10 m per second. The maximum and cruise speeds of the aircraft are 920 km per hour and 710 km per hour, respectively.

Its range is 15,000 km. The combat radius and service ceiling of the aircraft are 6,400 km and 12,000 m respectively. The aircraft weighs around 94,400 kg and its maximum take-off weight is 188,000 kg.

Cockpit of Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bomber. (Vitaly V. Kuzmin)

The aircraft is equipped with a weather radar, a navigation and bombing radar and a gun fire control radar. The low probability of intercept Obzor navigation and bombing radar, Nato designation clam pipe, is installed under the nose section.

The clam pipe radar has synthetic aperture radar mapping capability. The PRS-4 box tail warning and gun fire control radar is installed at the base of the rudder.

Infrared sensors of the Mak-UT IR sensor missile approach warning system are installed under the nose sections and on the top surface of the fuselage above the wings.

Tupolev Tu-95 flying over Moscow as part of the 2008 Victory Day Parade, 9 May 2008. (Sergey Kustov)

Currently, ongoing modernization of the Russia's Tu-95MS bombers is aimed primarily on the aircraft armament, namely adaptation of the new Kh-101/102 stealth cruise missile. The modernization includes installation of four underwing pylons for up to 8 Kh-101/102 cruise missiles as well as adjusting aircraft's main weapons bay for cruise missiles of size the Kh-101/102 (7.5 m).

(Dmitriy Pichugin)

In 1968 two planes were lost over the Black Sea during a training flight. Both planes fell into the sea, one of them was to be salvaged later, and only one crew member out of 18 survived. These planes had been operating from AFB Uzyn in Ukraine.

On June 8, 2015 a Tu-95 ran off a runway at the Ukrainka bomber base and caught fire during take-off in the far eastern Amur region. As a result, one crew member was killed.

On July 14, 2015 it was reported that a Tu-95MS had crashed outside Khabarovsk, killing two of seven crew members.

Variants

• Tu-95/1. The first prototype powered by Kuznetsov 2TV-2F coupled turboprop engines.
• Tu-95/2. The second prototype powered by Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprops.
• Tu-95. Basic variant - Bear-A.
• Tu-95K. Experimental version for air-dropping a MiG-19 SM-20 jet aircraft.
• Tu-95K22. Conversions of the older Bear bombers, reconfigured to carry the Raduga Kh-22 missile and incorporating modern avionics - Bear-G.
• Tu-95K/Tu-95KD. Designed to carry the Kh-20 air-to-surface missile - Bear-B.
• Tu-95KM. Modified and upgraded versions of the Tu-95K, most notable for their enhanced reconnaissance systems - Bear-C.
• Tu-95LAL. Experimental nuclear-powered aircraft project.
• Tu-95M. Modification of the serial Tu-95 with the NK-12M engines.
• Tu-95M-55. Missile carrier.
• Tu-95MR. Bear-A modified for photo-reconnaissance and produced for Soviet Naval Aviation - Bear-E.
• Tu-95MS/Tu-95MS6/Tu-95MS16. Completely new cruise missile carrier platform based on the Tu-142 airframe.
• Tu-95MS6. Capable of carrying six Kh-55, Kh-55SM or Kh-555 cruise missiles on a rotary launcher in the aircraft's weapons bay.
• Tu-95MS16. Fitted with four underwing pylons in addition to the rotary launcher in the fuselage, giving a maximum load of 16 Kh-55s or 14 Kh-55SMs.
• Tu-95MSM. Modernization of the "Tu-95MS16" bombers, equipped with the new Novella-NV1.021 radar, SOI-021 information display system, Meteor-NM2 airborne defense complex and upgraded Kuznetsov NK-12MPM turboprop engines.
• Tu-95N. Experimental version for air-dropping an RS ramjet powered aircraft.
• Tu-95RTs. Variant of the basic Bear-A configuration, redesigned for maritime reconnaissance and targeting as well as electronic intelligence for service in the Soviet Naval Aviation - Bear-D.
• Tu-95U. Training variant - Bear-T.
• Tu-95V. Special carrier aircraft to test-drop the largest thermonuclear weapon ever designed, the Tsar Bomba.
• Tu-96. Long-range intercontinental high-altitude strategic bomber prototype, designed to climb up to 16,000–17,000 m.

Derivatives

• Tu-114. Airliner derivative of Tu-95.
• Tu-116. Tu-95 fitted with passenger cabins as a stop-gap while the Tu-114 was being developed. 2 were converted.
• Tu-126. AEW&C derivative of Tu-114, itself derived from the Tu-95.
• Tu-142. Maritime reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare derivative of Tu-95 - Bear-F.

Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-95 landing in a beautiful sunset. April 2009. (Sergey Krivchikov - Russian AviaPhoto Team)

Specifications (Tu-95MS)

General characteristics

• Crew: 6-7; pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, communications system operator, navigator, tail gunner plus sometimes another navigator.
• Length: 46.2 m
• Wingspan: 50.1 m
• Height: 12.12 m
• Wing area: 310 m2
• Empty weight: 90,000 kg
• Gross weight: 171,000 kg
• Max takeoff weight: 188,000 kg
• Powerplant: 4 × Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engines 15,000 PS (15,000 hp; 11,000 kW)
• Propellers: 8-bladed contra-rotating fully-feathering constant-speed propellers

Performance

• Maximum speed: 830 km/h
• Cruise speed: 550 km/h
• Range: 15,000 km
• Service ceiling: 13,716 m
• Rate of climb: 10 m/s
• Wing loading: 606 kg/m2
• Power/mass: 0.235 kW/kg

Armament

• Guns: 1 or 2 × 23 mm AM-23 autocannon in tail turret
• Missiles: Up to 15,000 kg, including the Kh-20, Kh-22, and Kh-55/101/102, or 8 Kh-101/102 cruise missiles mounted on underwing pylons.