The Tupolev Tu-22M ( ??????? ??-22? , NATO code : Backfire ) was a supersonic , swing-wing , long-range strategic and low-wing maritime fighter-bomber developed by OKB Tupolev in the Soviet Union . Some of these aircraft are still used by the Russian Air Force .

Development
The Tu-22M is based on the Tu-22 weapons system, also using the same anti-ship nuclear missile, the Kh-22 . Tu-22M coding was used to help gain approval for the bomber in the Soviet system.

The first prototype, the Tu-22M0 , first flew on 30 August 1969. The resultant aircraft was first seen by NATO around that time. For several years the West believed that the operational code of this newest aircraft was Tu-26 . During SALT negotiations in the 1980s, the Soviets insisted it was the Tu-22M. At the time, Western authorities suspected that the Soviet statement was intended to indicate that it was simply a derivative of the Tu-22 rather than a more advanced and advanced weapon.

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