The Tupolev Tu-160 White Swan

[NATO reporting name: Blackjack]
is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing nuclear-capable heavy strategic bomber and airborne missile platform designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The aircraft is large, longer than a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress at 54 m, with wingspan 56 m when spread, 36 m when swept back. The Tu-160 is operated by the Long Range Aviation branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

The Tu-160 entered service in 1987, the last strategic bomber designed for the Soviet Air Forces. It was built to serve as both a conventional and nuclear bomber. Production was stopped in 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the newly independent Russian and Ukrainian air forces inherited a fleet of 13 and 19 Tu-160s, respectively. Following protracted negotiations, the Russian Federation purchased eight Ukrainian Tu-160s, while the remaining 11 were scrapped in the late 1990s under the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement. Following these actions, the sole operator of the aircraft type became the Russian Aerospace Forces' Long Range Aviation branch, which still had 17 Tu-160s in service as of 2022. The type had its combat debut in November 2015 during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, conducting numerous airstrikes using Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles. Various overseas deployments have been conducted, including to distant nations such as Venezuela and South Africa.

Tu-160M on afterburners with full sweep

Armed Version