PAK DA, factory designation: "product 80", aka "Messenger", is being developed by Tupolev PJSC.

Perspective aviation complex long-range aviation - a project of the Russian strategic bomber-missile carrier of a new generation.
The project is not a modernization of existing machines, but is a fundamentally new aircraft.

As you know, work on the development of the concept of the product began 10 years ago, in 2009. It is assumed that the roll-out of the first prototype will take place in two or three years, the first flight - in 2025-2026.

Some bombers from the Tu family can break through air defense, while others fly over record distances. "Russian stealth" PAK DA is designed to combine both of these "lethal" characteristics. This fifth-generation missile carrier is to enter service in 10 years: the adoption and start of operation of the missile carriers is scheduled for 2028-2029.

In the future, PAK DA should replace the Tu-95 and Tu-160 long-range aircraft in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces and partially take over the functions.

The developers successfully defended the project of a promising long-range aviation complex (PAK DA). According to Interfax, citing a source in the military-industrial complex, the Russian military approved the appearance of the new aircraft and its specifications. In addition, we signed all the necessary agreements, according to which the construction of the first flight models of the strategic bomber will begin.

The aircraft used by the Long-Range Aviation of Russia are certainly gradually becoming obsolete. As new air defense systems appear, the effectiveness of such aircraft is only declining. The new long-range bomber will eventually have to replace three types of combat aircraft at once: Tu-22M3 and Tu-160. PAK DA will not only play the role of a strategic bomber, but will also be used as a missile-carrying bomber, long-range interceptor and even as a platform for launching spacecraft.

PAK YES

As you know, the development of a new bomber has been underway since 2013. According to the terms of reference of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, this strategic bomber should not only carry as many weapons as possible, but also be invisible and use any airfields.

PAK DA will be built using stealth technologies according to the “flying wing” aerodynamic configuration - that is, without tail. And will fly at subsonic speeds.

Officially, it is only known that it will be able to carry more weapons than the Tu-160. First of all, these will be long-range cruise missiles (2-4 thousand kilometers), which will be able to carry not only conventional, but also nuclear warheads. So far, the developers are considering Kh-102 missiles as the main weapon, which can hit land and sea targets. And also, the range of weapons of the new bomber will include hypersonic weapons.

Particular attention in the design of the aircraft is paid to the use of stealth technologies. The PAK DA will use several stealth technologies. This is a radar-absorbing coating, and structural elements, as well as the geometric shape of the airframe.

The invisibility of the aircraft for radar should be provided by Russian know-how - a special radar-absorbing coating. As well as the maximum possible use of composite materials.

To reduce the effective scattering area of ​​the bomber, only internal weapons bays will be made in it.

In July 2017, it was reported that the United Aircraft Corporation defended the PAK DA draft design, and also began development work to create a new bomber. At the stage of preliminary design, the possible appearance of the equipment, the main functions that it will perform, possible weapons and usage scenarios are determined.

Meanwhile, in December last year, the Kazan Aviation Plant named after Gorbunov resumed production of strategic missile-carrying bombers. Now the company is going to completely new aircraft; parts from the Soviet backlog are not used for their construction. Based on the results of testing these bombers, the military will decide on the start of mass production of vehicles. Serial production of Tu-160 bombers was suspended in Russia in 1994.

Project development

In August 2009, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Tupolev company signed a contract for R&D to create a PAK DA for a period of 3 years. The technical design of the new bomber will be fully completed by 2015. It should be a fundamentally new aircraft. It will be based on conceptually new solutions that will make it possible to be competitive in this area at the turn of 2020 as well.

Research work should be considered as the creation of a certain scientific and technical reserve on this topic. This is not only and not so much a military theme, but a study of aerodynamics, strength, new materials and technologies. Igor Shevchuk, General Designer of the Tupolev company

In August 2012, it was announced that the PAK DA preliminary project had already been completed and approved. Experimental design work on it begins. The aircraft project was approved in March 2013.

Development of pre draft design was carried out by the teams of TsAGI and KB "Tupolev". When considering the presented concepts, preference was given to the development of "Tupolev". In April 2014, it became known that the Tupolev Design Bureau had completed the pre-sketch design of the PAK DA.

According to experts, the new long-range missile carrier will be made according to the “flying wing” scheme - like its American counterpart B-2 Spirit. Only such an arrangement provides low visibility of the aircraft for long-wave radars. A significant wingspan and design features will not allow the aircraft to overcome the speed of sound. At the same time, reduced visibility for radars will be provided. PAK DA will certainly be equipped with the most modern electronic equipment. Including radar, navigation, communications and electronic warfare systems.

In June 2014, information appeared about the alleged developer of the propulsion system of the new missile carrier. The new engine should be created by the Samara engine-building company Kuznetsov, which won the competition for the corresponding work. The engine will be created using the technologies of the gas generator of the NK-32 engine. Presumably, we are talking about the project of the NK-65 engine.

The designed aircraft has an internal index of the design bureau "product 80". The production of prototypes, as well as the deployment of mass production is expected at the Kazan aircraft plant "KAPO named after. Gorbunov, which is a production branch of OAO Tupolev.

"Messenger" video

NGB

A similar project called the Next Generation Bomber is currently being developed in the interests of the US Air Force. The military requirements for the car were drawn up in 2011. According to media reports, the cost of the aircraft will be more than half a billion dollars. The new bomber will be subsonic and its flight range will exceed 9,000 kilometers. The combat load of the NGB will be 6.3 - 12.7 tons. The aircraft must be "optionally manned", that is, to carry out missions without the participation of the crew. In this case, the machine will be able to stay in the air for more than four days.

As you know, NGB is designed with extensive use of stealth technologies. According to experts, this should give the new bomber the ability to carry out air strikes in the daytime, even in the face of opposition from enemy air defense systems.

Work on the new bomber project began in 2009, when the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the Tupolev company to conduct research and development work, which could become the largest under the State Arms Program until 2025.

At the same time chief designer Tupolev Design Bureau Igor Shevchuk said that research work should be considered as the creation of a certain scientific and technical reserve on this topic. This is not only and not so much a military theme, but a study of aerodynamics, strength, new materials and technologies.

A promising aviation complex involves the creation of a completely new aircraft, which will be subsonic and made according to the “flying wing” scheme. The “flying wing” layout, which was first announced on August 6, 2013, will provide the aircraft with low radar visibility in the long-wave range, and subsonic speed suggests the presence of a large elongation wing. In terms of reference Russian Air Force for PAK DA, the developers indicated a flight range of 12,500 kilometers, a payload mass of 30 tons.

At the end of May 2013, the first stage of testing the “flying wing” model at cruising speeds up to M=0.88 and high Reynolds numbers* (M=0.2) was completed at the Department of Aircraft and Rocket Aerodynamics of TsAGI. The studies were carried out in the transonic tube T-106 of TsAGI and were aimed at clarifying the aerodynamic characteristics of a promising aircraft. A special thematic model "flying wing" with various options for the location of engines and tail geometry was designed and manufactured at TsAGI in 2011. In 2012, the model was tested in the T-102 and T-107 subsonic wind tunnels. And although these studies were carried out as part of the work on shaping the appearance of a long-haul passenger aircraft, it is obvious that their results are directly projected onto the PAK DA.

The design of the aircraft will widely use technologies to reduce radar visibility, composite materials and radar absorbing coatings, it should be expected that in order to reduce the RCS, the airframe geometry will differ from what can now be found in various drawings and even from the model that was purged in TsAGI wind tunnel. The most likely appearance of the aircraft is shown in the photo in the header of the article.

The main armament of the bomber will be long-range hypersonic missiles. In July 2015, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov confirmed in an interview that the development work new rocket go: "She will not be alone, there will be several types - both in range and in capabilities. Several of them are being developed."

According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, the main missile in the complex will be a missile with a range of up to 7,000 kilometers. She herself will decide when, where, at what speed and at what height to fly. The plane will only become a means of delivery to the launch zone. In addition to strategic missiles, the aircraft will have other high-precision weapons in its arsenal.

The development of engines for the PAK DA was entrusted to the Samara company Kuznetsov, the NK-32 engine, which is installed on the Tu-160 strategic bomber, was taken as the base engine.

Avionics for the PAK DA are already being developed at the enterprises of the Concern for Radio Electronic Technologies (KRET). There is a general agreement between KRET and the United Aircraft Corporation, according to which the Concern creates a unified aircraft. Together with the Tupolev company, KRET is also involved in development work. The aircraft will use not only new, but also already tested technologies. Part of the systems and devices will be borrowed from the latest developments that are installed on other new machines and have shown high reliability and efficiency. It is assumed that the PAK DA aircraft will be equipped with a completely new sighting and navigation system, communications, reconnaissance and electronic warfare.

One of the key elements for a promising aircraft - a radar system - is being developed at the Research Institute of Instrument Engineering. Tikhomirov. The development of this radar uses the experience gained in work on airborne radar stations with an active phased array antenna (AFAR) for the fifth generation fighter PAK FA.

By 2012, the technical design of the complex was completed and development work began. By March 2013, the aircraft project was approved, and in 2014 the Tupolev Design Bureau completed the pre-sketch design of the PAK DA.

The new Russian bomber is to make its first flight in 2021, it is scheduled to complete the tests in 2023, and the start of the series launch in 2025. At the same time, the Russian Aerospace Forces plan to purchase at least 50 such machines.

In May 2015, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation decided to resume the production of Tu-160 bombers in a modernized version of the Tu-160M2, and, given the economic realities in which the task of implementing the State Arms Program-2025 is much more complicated, to postpone the completion of the development of the new generation bomber PAK DA to a later term.

The postponement looks quite natural and necessary in connection with the decision to resume production of the Tu-160. The "White Swan" is perfect from the point of view of aerodynamics, which means that it has a constructive reserve for many years to come in terms of modernization and re-release. According to the General Director of the RAC "MiG" and the General Designer of the United Aircraft Corporation Sergei Korotkov, the upgraded Tu-160M2 bombers are being created on the basis of a good platform and will be in operation for 40-50 years.

Along with the PAK DA and Tu-160M2 (since 2023), the Russian Aerospace Forces will begin serial modernization of 30 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers into the Tu-22M3M variant, and production of serial samples of the PAK FA T-50 fighter will begin in 2017. In perspective new bomber should replace Tu-22M3 bombers, Tu-95MS and Tu-160 missile carriers. It is likely that in the future it may be produced in parallel with the new Tu-160M2 strategic bomber.

Meanwhile, if the Tu-160 modernization program raises no questions, then there are doubts about the need to create a PAK DA in the "expert community".

For example, PIR Center consultant Maxim Starchak believes that Russia is not on the verge of a nuclear war with the United States, and that America is not yet creating some kind of ultra-modern weapon that could provoke Moscow into such an expensive project. The modernized Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers are doing an excellent job and will cope with their tasks for more than a decade.

Another expert, Viktor Murakhovsky, notes that the project for a new bomber is being developed in a situation where the concept of using aviation in the world is changing quite quickly.

“If you look at the PAK DA concept, then its implementation will begin in the best case in 10 years. Well, which of the aviation military experts can say what the main trend in the development of aviation will be in 10 years? I assume that unmanned aircraft may appear, which will not conducts air combat, but is a carrier of long-range weapons," he said.

However, the "expert community" may be wrong, if only for the simple reason that they do not have all the information. In January 2016, VKS Commander-in-Chief Viktor Bondarev confirmed that the development of a promising aviation complex is proceeding in accordance with plans. The prototype should take off in 2021. In April, already Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov confirmed that the development of the PAK DA would continue, despite the resumption of production of the upgraded Tu-160M2 aircraft.

“We will certainly not stop work on the development of a promising long-range aviation complex,” the deputy minister said and added that the decision to resume production of the modernized Tu-160M2 strategic missile carrier is final and not subject to revision.

Thus, work on two major projects- the launch of the Tu-160M2 series and the development of PAK DA are going in parallel, and the transfer development timeline PAK YES is no longer voiced.

Since the mid-2000s, there has already been a very dense veil of military and state secrets around the new developments of Russian weapons, which makes it much more difficult to build any reliable and final assumptions about the parameters and type of new, promising weapons.
Suffice it to recall all the previous assumptions about the appearance of the Armata tank, which was derived from a deep modification of the T-90, or from promising tank developments of the 1980s-1990s, but which in the end turned out to be a rather original concept on its unique chassis, which is at least one and a half times larger than the T-90.

From here, in general, follows a logical approach to the issue of discussing promising and new types of weapons that are still in development - we, from our public “jacket” point of view, discuss the very closed activities of “uniforms” as various probabilistic estimates. And then the "uniforms" show us in the end what they did and how they did it at a decent and modern level.
At the same time, even if a person is “in the know”, then if he is not the chief designer or minister of defense, he is unlikely to know everything and everything about the project. Due to which, for example, in response (certainly incomplete and approximate, since - see the thought above) you will most likely hear something like this.
This is the problem of a modern engineer or designer (if you are not the Chief) - a person is engaged in his piece of work and can, for example, tell you everything about hypersonic maneuvering units. Under a non-disclosure agreement, of course. But this simple engineer knows quite a bit about the parameters of the most developed rocket or aircraft - quite at the level of ordinary people. In short, the same sandpiper as you and me, just sitting closer to the center of the swamp.

Therefore, when talking about the possible appearance and parameters of PAK DA, as in the case of the Sarmat, I will rely on some general considerations, physics textbooks, technical reference books and the understanding that often the option of “getting ready from the archive and modernizing” in the engineering environment is not considered cowardice.
Although I will not argue that my reconstruction of the future appearance of PAK DA (a promising long-range aviation complex) is the only correct one.
Who knows, maybe in 2020 we will see something that will make our lower jaws fall off and we will say: “Well, sticks, we can do it when we want!”
Here, let's get started.

First, before starting to analyze the possible parameters of PAK DA, it is worth evaluating all the messages and statements of officials that the Russian press supplied us with throughout the process of preliminary work on the future appearance of PAK DA.
Work on R&D on the PAK DA complex was started by the Tupolev Design Bureau in 2009, already six years ago. In early 2011, Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin announced that the technical design of the PAK DA was to be ready by 2015.
Until March 2013, apparently, uncertainty remained in the concept of the bomber itself - a fundamental choice between the possibility of improving the "white swan" Tu-160, which implemented the concept of a supersonic high-altitude bomber, and the concept of an inconspicuous subsonic air defense breakthrough bomber at ultra-low altitude, the concept of which was implemented , for example, such machines as the American B-2 and B-1B were still open:

Tu-160. Fast, high-altitude, supersonic.

B-1B. Transonic, low-altitude, inconspicuous.

AT 2. Subsonic, low-altitude, inconspicuous.

The final choice of the concept for the PAK DA, apparently, was not given so easily: in the USSR and in modern Russia technologies for reducing the visibility of aircraft by no means reached serial aircraft in such a finished form, as happened in the USA - rather, one could say that by the mid-1990s in Russia they were able to more or less bring to the prototype models the backlog that made for the stealth of aircraft (the notorious "stealth") in the late USSR. But, of course, there was no talk of any serial machines.

At the same time, it should be noted that the choice of "supersonic-high-altitude-noticeable" and "transonic-low-altitude-inconspicuous" is somewhat final and unambiguously defined: the sum of requirements for the implementation of both flight modes at the same time turns out to be practically unbearable for a real aircraft in modern conditions.
So, for example, when switching to the concept of an air defense breakthrough at an ultra-low altitude, when developing the V-1 bomber, it was necessary to abandon supersonic flight: in the lower layers of the atmosphere, near the ground, the V-1 “pulled out” only low supersonic sound (1.25 M instead of 2.2M in the first version of the B-1A, which was created as a promising supersonic replacement for the strategic subsonic B-52).

In addition, if you want to achieve low visibility of an aircraft and its late detection not only due to terrain avoidance at an ultra-low altitude, but also due to scattering and absorption of radio emission and / or low visibility for thermal imagers, then you need to make even greater sacrifices, really disfiguring the aerodynamics of the aircraft and turning it into a flying "goblin", as, in fact, happened with the F-117 fighter-bomber and the B-2 bomber:

Comparison of classic B-52 and "stealth" B-2

In addition to the fact that technologies for reducing the visibility of an aircraft inevitably deprive it of “high” supersonic (M = 2.0 ... 2.2), they also inevitably reduce its combat radius: even at subsonic speeds in the lower atmosphere, it is simply more inconvenient to fly: a lot of fuel has to be spent only to overcome air resistance.
As a result, "stealth", other things being equal, have a smaller combat radius compared to high-altitude supersonic aircraft. Well, you also have to pay for the "goblin look".

From here, we can safely dismiss any statements about the supersonic or even hypersonic nature of the PAK DA design, while also ensuring stealth, which sounded until the beginning of 2013: stealth and supersonic are still incompatible. Either one or the other.

For further analysis of the prospects and capabilities of the PAK DA, we need to consider its engines. In 2014, at the Oboronexpo-2014 exhibition, the selected technical solution for the PAK DA propulsion system was announced: the future bomber will receive modified engines from the Tu-160, NK-32-02, produced by the same Kuznetsov Design Bureau (now - JSC Kuznetsov ").

The issue of the propulsion system for the PAK DA today is, to be honest, the most important one - it’s all about how the lack of designed and finished engines killed in the early 1960s both the promising M-50 strategic bomber and, along with it, the entire Myasishchev Design Bureau.
At the same time, the situation with the restoration of production of NK-32 does not look so rosy: initial plans to transfer to customers the upgraded and modified NK-32, which in 2010 was announced as real for 2013-2015, today has already shifted to 2016. Bye.

The situation with the NK-32 is also complicated by the fact that the new engines produced by Kuznetsov after 1993 will need to be literally distributed piece by piece to existing aircraft that require planned modernization and replacement of engines: about 30 Tu-22M3 (two engines per vehicle) and 13 Tu-160 strategic missile carriers (4 engines per vehicle).
Considering that all these aircraft were initially planned to be upgraded by 2020 (Tu-22M3) and 2023 (Tu-160), the plans to produce 20-22 engines per year “by 2023” look, to put it mildly, insufficient. Especially against the background of the fact that there is a real queue for the NK-32 from other customers.

In addition, this implies a sad forecast regarding the first PAK DA gliders, which, most likely, may appear by 2020: up to the deployment of mass production of the NK-32 at the Samara plant and until the implementation of a mass of burning, priority programs, the new long-range bomber will fly with some kind of motor "ersatz", like his "colleague in misfortune" - PAK FA.

However, the parameters of the NK-32 by themselves (because, to be honest, there is no other engine on the horizon), allow us to estimate the capabilities of the PAK DA.
The PAK DA design provides for the use of four NK-32 engines, but without the afterburner installed on the Tu-160: the PAK DA aircraft, as we have determined, does not need supersonic.
The maximum thrust without afterburner of four NK-32s is 4 x 18,000 kgf (about 72 tons). The thrust-to-weight ratio of a modern aircraft is usually around 0.25, which limits the maximum takeoff weight of the PAK DA to 280 tons. Taking into account the various "goblin" things to create the effect of stealth, which negatively affect the power available, the actual weight of the PAK DA will most likely be even less than the maximum take-off weight of the Tu-160, which is 275 tons. Most likely, we will talk about 220-250 tons.

What it will actually be - we'll see. But the requirement of stealth determines something like this appearance PAK DA.

If we ignore the fantasies about appearance(here, in fact, no one will tell you how it will look like in reality, as it happened, by the way, with the PAK FA or the Armata), then we again need to return to the engines.
With an aircraft weight of 220-250 tons, based on the structural perfection of modern aircraft and at least 30 tons of combat load, the fuel weight will be about 100 tons. Here, again, I proceed from the fact that 148 tons of fuel fit into the Tu-160 with an empty aircraft weight of 110 tons and a maximum take-off weight of 275 tons.
That is, taking into account the subsonic and stealth, something will turn out at the level of the Tu-160 and I would like it not to be much worse.

The specific fuel consumption of the NK-32 is 0.535 kg / kgf per hour, the cruising thrust of four NK-32 engines will be 4 x 2900 kgf = 11400 kgf, the fuel consumption is about 6.1 tons per hour, the flight time is about 16 hours, the flight range at normal subsonic speed of 800 km / h * 16 h = 12800 km. Combat radius, respectively - 6400 km.
In principle, it is comparable with the parameters of both supersonic strategists of the 1980s, and subsonic, noisy and easily noticeable bombers of the Tu-95 and V-52 type from the 1960s.
With this approach to calculations, by the way, PAK DA will have a combat radius of about 1000 km more than inconspicuous American counterparts B-1B and B-2 with a comparable combat load, which is also very good.

Well, the installation on the PAK DA of the X-101 cruise missile complex with a firing range of 4500-5500 km brings the combat radius to the desired 11-12 thousand kilometers, which is quite enough for a guaranteed strike on the continental territory of the United States, regardless of the chosen route: through the North Atlantic , through Alaska or across the North Pole.

Photo of Tu-95 with Kh-101 cruise missiles on external sling. Presumably - testing prototypes, 2012.

Thus, in the event of a positive decision on the issue of engines, the PAK DA project completely brings the issue of using long-range aviation to a new level, taking into account the “retirement” of the old Tu-95 in the region of 2040 and the modernization of the existing fleet of Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 .
In this case, PAK DA covers the penetration of the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 to targets on the territory of a potential enemy with its strike, in case of supporting the use of these supersonic aircraft by a massive launch of Kh-101 missiles from a range of about 5000 km, which in this case "catch up" shock wave Tu-160 and Tu-22M3.

For the Tu-95, such a surprise launch tactic, of course, becomes unfeasible: a potential enemy detects these bombers as they approach the firing line, long before the missiles are launched.

What principles can be used to reduce the visibility of the PAK DA?
Most likely, in this regard, both the Tupolev Design Bureau's own developments and the unfinished projects of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, which were carried out in the USSR in the 1980s and closed in the wake of the crisis of the 1990s already in the days of the Russian Federation, will be used.
This is the T-60S project and the so-called "object 54S". Unfortunately, even now, information about these experimental aircraft has not been fully declassified, which is why most of the conclusions are based on public leaks that occurred during the general mess in the 1990s.

The T-60S project was a deep modernization of the Su-24 front-line bomber and was carried out at the Sukhoi Design Bureau from 1984 to 1991 and, apparently, represented the first Soviet attempt to make a real "stealth". The T-60S project had a very interesting chief designer - Naum Semyonovich Chernyakov, who can rightly be called both a "great innovator" and a "great loser": all of his major independent projects never reached the stage of serial production.
Chernyakov “did strange things” all the time, creating the Burya strategic cruise missile in the 1950s, and then designing the famous T-4 “hundredth” - a strike supersonic reconnaissance missile carrier, which was supposed to single-handedly destroy enemy aircraft carrier groups.
Unfortunately, the T-60S project did not escape the sad fate either: already at the design stage, several unsuccessful ideas got into it, which eventually stopped its development in 1991. T-60S became latest project Chernyakov.

There are a lot of reconstructions of the T-60S on the network, for example, I like this one, but, in general, judging by the available information, it never came to the production of a prototype - blowing aircraft models in TsAGI wind tunnels has already revealed a lot of problems, " incompatible with life "T-60S:

However, based on the work on the T-60S, the Sukhoi Design Bureau at about the same time began work on a parallel project - the "54S object", work on which continued even after the collapse of the USSR, until 1994.
In particular, the “object 54” is remembered, for example, in the book “OKB P. O. Sukhoi. Notes in the annals: the armed men "(Alferov K. E., Moscow, 2014):

“The main developer of in-fuselage weapons systems for product 54 was the MKB Start. He also happened to develop, manufacture and even test the MKU-6-170 drum ejection launcher on the ground for use as part of the redesigned product 54. However, after 1994, due to a significant decrease in funding for the state defense order, the development of product 54 and weapons for it was practically curtailed ."

"Unknown Sukhoi" (Antsielovich L. L., Moscow, 2008)

“Taking into account the comments of the military design bureau, it was proposed to carry out work in the direction of further improving the combat characteristics of the Su-24BM, but subsequently an unambiguous instruction was received from the MAP: to start a new development. As a result, since 1981, the design of the aircraft was already carried out in a new layout, the theme received the designation Su-24BM2 (T-6BM2). In 1982, the draft design was defended, and in 1983, the layout commission. Since 1984, a new design stage began - the development of a front-line strike aircraft under the factory code "ed. 54". Work on this program continued at the design bureau for a total of more than 10 years. During this time, the layout of the machine changed several times, two full-scale design cycles passed, including the sequential development of a preliminary design, draft design, mock-up commission and release working documentation, and at the plant in Novosibirsk even the construction of a prototype aircraft was carried out. However, after 1994, due to a significant reduction in funding for the state defense order, the work was practically curtailed.

Hypothetical view of "object 54C".

In more detail, fragments of information about the T-60S and the “54S object” are analyzed at the link to which I refer you.
In general, apparently, for the Soviet stealth programs in the Sukhoi Design Bureau, a converted Su-27 aircraft was used, on which a stealth nozzle from a future project was installed:

The current state of this experimental machine, in general, is deplorable (the aircraft is on the left, the stealth nozzle is removed):

Therefore, the question of using the stealth developments of the Sukhoi Design Bureau in the promising PAK DA for me has as many pitfalls as the process of deploying a new production of the modernized NK-32 in Samara.

In general, the problems of the hypothetical "object 80" so far, most likely, are much more than good design solutions.
And whether it will be a “sponge modernization of the Tu-160”, as it is written in the last link, or still a “Russian stealth” with subsonic speed, built according to the “flying wing” scheme - we will see, I hope, already in 2020 .
If, of course, everything is in order.

PAK YES

perspective aviation complex of long-range aviation.

As the main aircraft for long-range aviation for the period after 2025, the project of a subsonic bomber according to the "flying wing" scheme, based on the developments of the Tupolev Design Bureau of the nineties, is being considered.

The power plant is assembled from four modernized and devoid of afterburner engines NK-32+. Maximum thrust 14000 - 16000 kgf. The thrust-to-weight ratio of such an aircraft is in the region of 0.25, which limits the maximum takeoff weight of the PAK DA to 240,000 kg.

One compartment with dimensions of 8.75x2.5x2.5 meters allows you to place a standard multi-position ejection system for six Kh-101/102 or six Kh-555 cruise missiles.

Fuel weight 104000 kg, specific consumption fuel 0.535 kg / kgf * h, cruising thrust 4 x 2900 kgf = 11400 kgf, fuel consumption 6099 kg / h, flight time 17 hours, flight range 809 km / h * 17 h = 13750 km. Range - 7000 km. Thus, the range of the complex with Kh-101 missiles will be at least 12,500 km, perhaps due to the higher aerodynamic quality of the "flying wing" scheme (20-25 instead of 17), one can count on a ferry range of at least 16,500 km.

Characteristics of PAK DA

Maximum payload weight
two MKU 2 x 16600 kg = 33200 kg., 12 KRBD Kh-101/102.
4 RVV-SD + 4 UVKU-50U, 4 x 190 kg + 4 x 117 kg = 1228 kg.
2 RVV-MD 2 x 110 kg = 220 kg.
Total 33200 kg + 1228 kg + 220 kg = 34648 kg.

Side view 67 sqm
top view 564 sq.m
front view 80 sqm
volume 290 cubic meters

fuel system
side view 27.15 sq.m
top view 263.8 sq.m
front view 41.56 sq.m
volume 133.5 cubic meters
fuel weight 104826 kg (785 kg / m3)

Compartment dimensions 2 m x 2 m x 8.9 m
ostek volumes 71.2 cubic meters
relative volume 0.25

Airframe density 780 kg/cu.m.

Weight maximum 226000 kg
normal weight 209400
empty weight 87000 kg (density 300 kg/cu.m.)
fuel weight 104000 kg
load weight max. 34648 kg
normal load weight. 18048 kg
service weight 352 kg

Wing area 557 sq.m

Characteristics of PAK DA SAM

Weight maximum 226000 kg
empty weight 87000 kg
fuel weight 104000 kg
payload weight 12772 kg

16 RVV-BD = 16 * 600 kg = 9600 kg
16 UVKU-50U = 16 * 117 kg = 1872 kg
4 RVV-SD = 4 * 190 kg = 760 kg
4 UVKU-50L = 4 * 80 kg = 320 kg
2 RVV-MD = 2 * 110 kg = 220 kg

Complex weight 20000 kg
service weight 2228 kg

4 antennas 4.0 x 0.8 meters (area 4 x 3.2 sq.m)

The engine for PAK DA will be created on the basis of the Tu-160 engine

The engine for a promising long-range aviation complex (PAK DA) will be created on the basis of the gas generator of the second stage engine installed on the Russian Tu-160 strategic bomber, a representative of the United Engine Corporation (UEC) said.
“The Tu-160 has the NK-32 engine, it will have a number of technical changes and improvements, and this engine will go to PAK DA. It will be new engine on the basis of the unified gas generator NK-32 of the second stage," the UEC representatives explained at the Oboronexpo-2014 exhibition, RIA Novosti reports.
“8 billion rubles of budget money should be allocated for its creation, plus own resources", - added to the UEC.
As reported in the official publication of the international exhibition "Oboronexpo-2014" with reference to the General Director of the UEC Vladislav Maslov, the contract for the PAK DA engine has not yet been signed, but there are already general parameters of the power plant and preliminary schedule works, conditions and terms of performance are discussed.
Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, reported that the PAK DA will make its first factory flight in 2019, and its production will be launched in 2021-2022.
In May, the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force announced that the PAK DA will begin to enter the troops in 2023.
In December last year, the commander of long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force, Anatoly Zhikharev, stated that the PAK DA should be tested in 2019, and from 2025 it should begin to enter the troops.
At the end of November last year, the head of the United Aircraft Corporation, Mikhail Pogosyan, reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the start of full-scale work on the PAK DA would take place exactly in 2014.

In August 2009, a contract was signed between the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Tupolev company to conduct R&D to create a PAK DA for a period of 3 years. According to Anatoly Zhikharev, commander of long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force, the aircraft project will be approved in 2013.

According to Igor Shevchuk, the general designer of the Tupolev company, “the upcoming research work should be considered as the creation of some kind of scientific and technical reserve on this topic. This is not only and not so much a military theme, but a study of aerodynamics, strength, new materials and technologies.”
According to Deputy Defense Minister Popovkin, the technical design of the new bomber should be fully completed by 2015.

The Russian Air Force will receive a new strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons by 2030. This was stated to "Interfax" on Monday by the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Colonel-General Alexander Zelin.
"Currently - already at the stage of the competition for preliminary projects - we are creating a promising long-range aviation complex (the so-called PAK-DA - IF). I think that in February of this year we will report to the Chief of the General Staff, the Minister of Defense about the promising aviation complex, which should be developed, and somewhere in the 2030s should appear as part of a new, qualitatively updated Air Force," the Colonel General said.
According to him, the closest attention is being paid to the development of a new carrier of strategic nuclear weapons (SNF). “We are dealing with this problem in detail. Everything related to strategic aviation is a priority direction for the development of the Air Force and is not subject to any revision,” the Air Force Commander-in-Chief emphasized.
Zelin noted that along with the development of a new bomber, the domestic aviation industry is also modernizing existing long-range aviation systems. The Tu-160 supersonic bomber is being converted into the Tu-160M ​​variant, and the "regular" Tu-95MS into the Tu-95MSM. "These aircraft in the course of deep modernization will receive more high efficiency the use of the means of destruction that are on board," Zelin explained.
Note that at the end of the last (2011) year, the leadership of the Air Force called other terms for the adoption of the PAK-DA into service. On December 20, Commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, announced that the new bomber being developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau would be ready by 2025. "The first flight model of such an aircraft will appear in 2020. Such an aircraft may enter service with the Long-Range Aviation in 2025," Zhikharev said at the time.
Note that the development of a new strategic bomber is now being carried out by the United States, whose fleet of such aircraft is also seriously outdated. In the middle of the last decade, it was expected that the next carrier of nuclear weapons would enter service in 2018, but the economic crisis and lack of funding put this deadline into question. It is expected that a new generation bomber will be able to perform tasks without the participation of pilots. In this case, the machine will be able to spend up to four days in the air.

June 15, 2012
A decision has been made about which it will be possible to argue very widely and intensely for a long time. We are talking about creating a new generation bomber for long-range aviation. This put an end to the dispute between Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov, a supporter of the creation of the aircraft, and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who doubted the need for its creation.
During a visit to the air base "Korenovsk" in Krasnodar Territory Vladimir Putin announced the need to:
- develop a program for the creation of unmanned aircraft(for the creation of which it is planned to spend at least 400 billion rubles by 2020)
- create a new long-range strategic bomber (PAK DA)
As for drones, the statement was as follows:
“We need a program on unmanned systems. According to all experts, this is the most important direction in the development of aviation. Here we need the whole line, including automated strike, reconnaissance and other systems.
With the new bomber, a more controversial issue is:
“We have to start work on a new promising long-range aviation complex PAK DA. I know how costly it is, how difficult it is. We spoke repeatedly with both the minister and the chief of the General Staff. The task is not easy from a scientific and technical point of view, but we need to start this work.”
The first flight of the new bomber is scheduled for 2017, and serial samples should enter service in the period 2025-2030.

Research work on the formation of Air Force requirements and preliminary studies of the appearance of the PAK DA in design bureaus began in 1999. Preparations for the participation of various design bureaus in the competition for the creation of a fifth generation bomber began in April 2007. In December 2007, it was announced that the Russian Air Force had formulated tactical and technical requirements for the PAK DA program (interview of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force Alexander Zelin to the Interfax agency, December 2007).

Quote:
Alexander Bobryshev: In 2009, we started research work to create a promising long-range aviation complex. And in 2009, we completed the first stage with an analysis of the current state and with consideration of options for a promising carrier from all points of view. From the point of view of combining the tasks that are today distributed or dispersed into three carriers, into three sides.
We drew a line out of 47 options at the first stage and left 4 for further consideration and analysis. In terms of implementation, in 2012, the research work should be completed.
In general, we plan to finish it, if not in 2011, then at the beginning of 2012, in order to smoothly move into R&D (experimental design work). Naturally, R&D should end with preparation for mass production.

Vladimir Putin: By 2017?

Alexander Bobryshev: Yes, by 2017. In this regard, today we are again reviewing and reviewing with the help of the State Research Institute aviation systems question of cooperation capable developers and enterprises that will provide exactly promotion at the modern level.
And by 2017 we need to create, in fact, a carrier with a board of 2020-2025 in terms of its functionality. Therefore, this is a rather serious and complicated task, but given what both scientists and engineers know today, I think that we will be able to do it. (December 2009)

Quote:
It is assumed that in the first half of 2012, a preliminary design of a promising DA aircraft should be completed, based on the results of the protection of which a decision will be made on the further course of work.

Quote:
The command of the Long-Range Aviation of Russia issued a tactical and technical assignment to the military-industrial complex for the development of a promising new-generation strategic bomber, code-named PAK DA. This was stated by the commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Major General Anatoly Zhikharev. (December 2011)

Quote:
“We have already carried out research and are now at the stage of the competition of preliminary projects for the creation of PAK DA. I think that this month we will report to the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense on the appearance of the PAK DA, which will have to appear as part of the renewed Air Force by the 2030s,” Zelin. (February 2012).

In parallel with the work on the aircraft, R&D is being carried out on the engine for it.

One of the most interesting reports at the Scientific and Technical Congress within the framework of the Engines-2012 Salon was Dmitry Fedorchenko, General Designer of Samara OJSC Kuznetsov, who spoke about work on a promising turbofan engine in the 30-ton thrust class, called PD-30 (promising engine for 30 tons of thrust)
The enterprise is currently proactively conducting search work and choosing the design of such an engine, which can be installed on advanced passenger and transport aircraft created under the Aircraft 2020 program, as well as on the upgraded An-124-300 Ruslan.
So far, the most powerful turbofan engine in the post-Soviet space is the Zaporozhye D-18T with a thrust of 23.4 tons. There is no more thrust engine in Russia now, although the need for it has long existed.
It is worth remembering that back in the 90s. SNTK them. N.D. Kuznetsova designed the NK-44 turbofan engine with a thrust of about 40 tons. Then the difficult economic situation did not allow to bring this project to end. A few years ago, it was reported about the "second approach" to the topic - the beginning of work on the NK-65 engine with a thrust of 18-30 tons.
It was recognized that the creation of a new engine "from scratch" would require a lot of time and huge investments. Therefore, the stake was made on the use of existing backlogs - the modernized gas generator TRDDF NK-32 and the experience of work on the long-suffering NK-93, but using new technologies, materials and digital design systems.

In total, within the framework of the Tu-160 program, 38 NK-32 engines of the second stage of state tests were manufactured. Now the modernized gas generator is being tested in the CIAM thermal chamber. Work on its creation is being carried out jointly with the Samara Aerospace University. When modifying the basic gas generator of the engine to ensure the declared parameters, it is planned to significantly increase the gas-dynamic characteristics of the blade assemblies due to their aerodynamic improvement. The modified gas generator from NK-32 will have enough high temperature gases in front of the turbine - 1750K (at the first stage of state tests of NK-32, the temperature was 1635K).

The second scientific and technical reserve used in the work on the creation of the PD-30 is a high-power gearbox. Here, work is carried out jointly with CIAM, where a gearbox with a capacity of 33 thousand hp is located. with plain bearings, and which has an efficiency of approximately 99.4%. The PD-30 will require a higher power gearbox. The reduction scheme is applicable to the PD-30 for only one reason - to use a modified basic gas generator from the NK-32 engine. In addition, during the development, the question was: which is better: a six-speed turbine or a gearbox? The enterprise has experience in creating high-power gearboxes for NK-12 and NK-93 engines, therefore it was decided to make the PD-30 engine according to the gearbox scheme as the most expedient. The gearbox will have a capacity of about 50 thousand hp.
For the PD-30, a low-pressure turbine, a low-pressure compressor, a gearbox, a single-row fan, a control, monitoring and diagnostics system are being designed again. Power from the low-pressure turbine is transmitted to the low-pressure compressor drive, and through the gearbox to the fan drive. The use of a reducer makes it possible to have the optimal speed of the fan and the low pressure turbine and ensure the transfer of power to the fan by the shaft of the low pressure turbine inside the shaft of the medium pressure turbine. Compliance with advanced noise standards can be ensured at a peripheral fan speed not exceeding 340-350 m/s.
The next scientific and technical groundwork is a wide-chord hollow fan blade. For the first time such a blade was manufactured back in 1985 according to the design of the NK-56 engine, and the remaining project. In 1999, work was carried out jointly with American company to develop a blade for the General Electric GE90 engine. The blades of an experimental batch were also made, but further work was suspended. However, all developed technologies remained in the NTZ JSC "Kuznetsov". Today in Russia there are technologies and production capacity for the serial production of hollow rotor blades - at present, a plant for the precision manufacture of hollow blades is being created in Ufa.

Thus, wide-chord hollow fan blades, a low-emission combustion chamber (all issues of low-emission combustion chambers have been sufficiently worked out on gas engine combustion chambers), a geared engine scheme, and a modified gas generator based on the gas generator of the NK-32 engine are being introduced on the PD-30.

Today, according to the project of the PD-30 engine:
design documentation has been released.
calculations were made for the strength of a wide-chord hollow working blade with a honeycomb filler;
studies of the vibration strength and damping capacity of samples simulating the elements of a hollow blade with a honeycomb filler on a vibration stand were carried out;
the technology for manufacturing hollow blades with filler was worked out and 10 samples of blades were made according to the developed technology. Samples passed endurance tests;
studies of the endurance and damping capacity of full-sized hollow blades were carried out;
the design of an alternative version of a hollow working blade with a stiffener has been worked out;
the technology of manufacturing a composite hollow working blade with a stiffening rib has been worked out.

According to Dmitry Fedorchenko, the proposed PD-30 project is a development of the previous NK-65. When creating it, no super-ambitious tasks are set: the PD-30 should only receive “modern” characteristics, at the level of foreign analogues - such as Rolls-Royce Trent, General Electric GEnx and CF6-80E1, GP7270, PW4460, etc.
In order to reduce risks, reduce the cost of R&D and reduce development time, as well as optimize the mass production process, it is planned to use the existing scientific and technical reserve of JSC Kuznetsov for a gearbox and a low-emission combustion chamber, to take as a basis a modified gas generator of the NK-32 serial engine. The government has set the task of restoring the mass production of the NK-32 (installed on the Tu-160) in the interests of the Ministry of Defense, but the planned production volumes are small, and therefore the use of its gas generator for other projects, in particular the PD-30, will only benefit.
“The PD-30 engine will have a bypass circuit with a gearbox and separate exhaust in the circuits,” said Dmitry Fedorchenko. - Modification of the gas generator should go in the direction of providing the declared parameters with a significant increase in the gas-dynamic characteristics of the blade assemblies. At the same time, a turbine and a low-pressure compressor, a gearbox, a single-row fan, a control, monitoring and diagnostics system are being redesigned. The use of a reducer will make it possible to have the optimal speed of the fan and the low-pressure turbine and ensure the transfer of power to the fan by the shaft of the low-pressure turbine inside the shaft of the medium-pressure turbine.”
According to the calculated data presented in the report, the PD-30 will have a takeoff thrust of 29,500 kgf with a bypass ratio of 8.7, an air flow rate of 1138 kg/s, and a gas temperature in front of the turbine of 1570K. (according to other sources, the temperature of the gases in front of the turbine is 1391K, at takeoff 1635K). thrust in cruising mode 5700 kgf., In cruising mode (Н=11 km, M=0.76 / 809.3 km/h), specific fuel consumption will be 0.535 kg/kgf h. According to the terms of reference, the diameter of the PD-14 fan is 2950 mm , and the mass of the engine without a reverser is no more than 5140 kg.

Unfortunately, the PD-30 is a rather distant prospect, and its future has not yet been fully determined. Dmitry Fedorchenko suggested that such an engine, using the existing backlog and the necessary funding, can be created in 4–5 years. In the meantime, work is underway in a search mode, but JSC Kuznetsov hopes for interest from the state to start full-scale design and create a demonstration engine.
During the development of the PD-30, it is planned to use the experience gained in the creation of another promising domestic engine - the PD-14. For the manufacture of the demonstrator engine and the subsequent production of the PD-30, it is proposed to involve other domestic enterprises within the framework of cooperation - UMPO, NPC Salyut gas turbine construction, NPO Saturn, Aviadvigatel, Reduktor-PM, Temp im. F. Korotkov” and others.

Strategic bombers of the 21st century

Independent military review

What should be a promising aviation complex of Long-Range Aviation of Russia.

IN recent times The pages of special and periodicals actively discuss problems associated with the creation in the developed countries of the world of aviation equipment of the 5th generation, advanced means of aerospace attack (VKN) and the fight against them. At the same time, the topics of the discussed problems of creating in Russia a promising front-line aviation complex (PAK FA), mainly related to ways to achieve the tactical and technical characteristics and indicators of the combat capabilities of this complex, leads to sad thoughts that the complex is being created mainly to solve a very important , but by no means the only task of front-line (operational-tactical) aviation in future wars. To achieve success in any war, in addition to defensive means of conducting armed struggle, it is necessary to have effective strike means.

That is why at present and in the future one of the most important weapon systems of the Russian Air Force will be the long-range and strategic aviation systems of the Long-Range Aviation, which celebrated its 90th anniversary on December 23, 2004. Until recently, it was only the aviation component of the country's strategic nuclear forces - aviation strategic nuclear forces (ASNF). Only the United States has such ANF in the world. However, with the decrease in the threat of a general or large-scale nuclear war in both states, there has been a tendency to expand the list of tasks performed by strategic (long-range) bombers in a conventional war. This trend is being implemented through programs for the modernization of systems in service and should be taken into account when substantiating the requirements for advanced aviation systems of strategic (long-range) aviation.

US STRATEGIC AVIATION

To determine the operational and tactical requirements for the promising Long-Range Aviation Complex (PAK DA) of the Russian Air Force, which without any doubt should be developed and replace the existing aviation systems in 20-25 years, it is first of all advisable to analyze the use of US strategic aviation in the wars of the last decades and the views of the US Air Force Command on its use in wars in the first half of the 21st century.

The main directions of development of US strategic bomber aviation in the forecast period are: modernization of B-52H and B-1B aircraft; deployment of new B-2A bombers manufactured using the Stealth technology; equipping bombers of all types with high-precision non-nuclear weapons.

According to the announced long-term plan for the development of strategic aviation, starting from 2004, 76 (according to other reports - 71) modernized B-52H and 21 B-2A aircraft will remain in the SNNF. The number of B-2A is planned to be increased to 42 units. 95 B-1B aircraft have been withdrawn from the US SNNF, although some experts believe that returning them to the SNNF does not present a technical difficulty.

The dominant trend in the improvement of US strategic bombers, which still remain the basis of the SNNF, is to expand their capabilities to use precision-guided weapons (PW) in conventional equipment and give them the status of a "dual-use" weapon.

The B-52N bombers are assigned a special role, since in the future they will be the only means in the Air Force for delivering strategic air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) with nuclear and conventional warheads, medium-range air-to-ground guided missiles (UR) and anti-ship missiles. Harpoon". In addition, the B-52Ns have been upgraded to use new WTO systems, including guided aerial bombs (UABs) of the JDAM family, WCMD cassettes, JSOW and JASSM missiles. The B-52N aircraft are expected to remain in service until 2025-2030.

To increase the combat capabilities of B-1B aircraft, programs are being implemented to equip them with JDAM family UABs, WCMD, JSOW and JASSM cassettes, unguided cassettes with homing anti-tank submunitions. It is planned to modernize navigation and communications equipment, install an improved automated combat mission planning system, as well as modernize the electronic warfare (EW) complex, which should ensure that the enemy’s air defense system is overcome at medium and high altitudes.

Some results of the use of precision-guided conventional weapons by the US and its allies in several operations of the last decade of the last century and the beginning of the 21st century based on the materials mass media are given in the table.

As you can see, the share of high-precision aircraft weapons used in combat operations has grown over the years by more than 7 times, but their total number and the average number of their use per day have decreased. Although the intensity of their use in the first air offensive operations (VNO) has increased significantly. For example, in 73 hours of Operation Desert Fox (1998), almost 1.5 times more cruise missiles were fired at Iraqi targets than in 43 days of Operation Desert Storm (1991). According to Pentagon officials, of all the bombs and missiles used in Afghanistan, about 60% were equipped with laser or satellite guidance systems.

An important role in the conduct of the Afghan operation was played by a new generation of high-precision aviation munitions JDAM, equipped with a guidance system using a space-based radio navigation system and GPS location. In total, more than 6,600 of these munitions have been dropped, and the US Air Force is reportedly planning to purchase 236,000 more of these munitions in the coming years.

WHAT THE PACK SHOULD BE

To determine the operational and tactical requirements for the PAK DA, it is advisable to clarify its role in the wars of the future, as well as its place in the armaments system of the RF Armed Forces. It seems that the main purpose of the PAK DA is: firstly, strategic (nuclear) deterrence and combat operations as part of the strategic nuclear forces of the Russian Federation; secondly, deterrence (non-strategic, non-nuclear) and combat operations in conflicts, local and regional wars using conventional weapons as part of groupings of troops (forces) in continental and maritime (oceanic) theaters of military operations (TVD).

The task of strategic deterrence is associated with the threat of destruction in the event of the outbreak of hostilities using nuclear weapons to destroy important administrative and political centers, economic and military facilities of those countries that determine the strategic balance in the world.

Based on the solution of this problem, the main requirements for the PAK DA, in our opinion, can be the following. This is the intercontinental reach of the "aircraft-missile weapon" system; high guaranteed probability of using weapons against strategic targets, which is ensured primarily by the high survivability of the "aircraft-missile weapon" system when overcoming the enemy's air defense system and using long-range high-precision weapons; high combat readiness and survivability of the complex on the ground.

The intercontinental reach of the strategic aviation complexes of the Russian Federation is achieved by the "bomber - air-launched strategic cruise missile (ALCM)" system. Considering that when DA aviation regiments are based in the middle part of Russia, the removal of 75-80% of its possible objects, for example, on the North American continent, is about 12,000 km, the requirement for the tactical radius of a promising long-range bomber will be determined by the launch range capabilities of a promising ALCM.

High probability of using weapons strategic goals by increasing the in-flight survivability of the "aircraft-ALCM" system, it can be achieved by launching missiles without the carrier aircraft entering the zone of fire of ground-based means of the enemy's air defense system.

The requirement for high survivability of the PAK DA on the ground is due to the possibility of a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the enemy. Under current conditions and the predicted future, a sudden general nuclear war in the absence of an acute international crisis is unlikely.

Under the conditions of a relatively long developing acute international crisis, the survival of PAK DA on earth can be ensured by their dispersal on large numbers airfields (including civilian ones, where there are many heavy-duty aircraft for various purposes). To implement this requirement, a promising heavy bomber must be able to be based and autonomously on duty at a dispersal airfield of no higher than class 1. Perhaps this is the main reason for the need to increase the number of permanently operating unified airfields in the country (that is, airfields capable of providing simultaneous basing of aircraft of any type). At the same time, PAK DA should have reduced visibility for enemy space reconnaissance equipment or not have hallmarks compared to the surrounding civil aircraft.

Under the conditions of achieving strategic surprise by the enemy, a long-range bomber is the only strategic weapon system that, in the mode of duty on the ground, potentially has the ability to survive by getting out of the strike with timely notification by a missile attack warning system (SPRN). It is quite obvious that this can be done only with a high level of combat training of the crew and the combat readiness of the aviation complex as a whole, a relatively short time required for an emergency take-off, and sufficient resistance of the aircraft and its systems to the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. That is why providing high level combat (flight) training of long-range bomber crews today should be one of critical tasks High Command of the Russian Air Force.

When long-range aviation units are based in coastal areas, the main threat to bombers is enemy submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), especially when firing at flat trajectories. The flight time of the missiles can be up to 10 minutes, so the base and dispersal airfields of the bombers must be beyond the reach of enemy SLBMs when firing along flat trajectories.

The solution of problems in conflicts, local and regional wars in continental theaters of operations may be associated with the launching of the first missile and air strikes with high-precision conventional (non-nuclear) weapons against the most important targets throughout the entire depth of the enemy’s territory or KTVD in conditions of a strong air defense system and non-strategic missile defense (ABM). ); as well as inflicting air strikes in the course of hostilities with relatively cheap and effective conventional high-precision weapons against the most important targets throughout the entire depth of the enemy’s territory (theatre) in conditions of a weak, focal or suppressed air defense system.

The possibility (potential threat) of delivering effective missile and air strikes with high-precision conventional (non-nuclear) weapons against the most important targets throughout the entire depth of enemy territory (theatre) in the event of the outbreak of hostilities is one of the main military factors of non-nuclear deterrence of the enemy from unleashing aggression against Russia.

During combat operations in conditions of a weak, focal or suppressed enemy air defense system (fighter aircraft, long-range and medium-range air defense systems), when high aircraft survivability is ensured when operating from high altitudes, the PAK DA is the optimal weapon system for applying air strikes. This is due to the high combat load, the large reach of the complex and high precision delivery of ammunition to targets (including high-precision aerial bombs and short-range guided missiles); the comparative cheapness of promising guided (homing) aerial bombs; the possibility of solving a number of diverse fire missions in one flight; high reliability PAK DA as a system.

The geopolitical position of Russia is such that the solution of tasks by long-range aviation in a conventional war is limited to the Eurasian continent. North American continent as a territory of hostilities strategic systems in conventional equipment, it is hardly advisable to consider because of the threat of a retaliatory nuclear strike. Therefore, if the PAK DA will be armed with high-precision non-nuclear medium and long-range ALCMs, then its use in conventional warfare does not place high demands on it in terms of reach. When long-range missiles are used against targets on the Eurasian continent in the conditions of an unsuppressed air defense system, their reach will be ensured when launched from the territory of Russia. And the use of a "cheap" HTO type of guided aerial bombs of the JDAM family will be ensured by a tactical radius of a bomber of 6000-7000 km when based outside the zone of destruction of conventional high-precision weapons of our possible opponents.

APPLICATION OF PAK YES IN WARS

However, the use of PAK DA in armed conflicts, local and regional wars may be associated with another class of WTO - promising high-precision air-launched ballistic tactical missiles as part of the operational-strategic reconnaissance-strike complex (OS RUK). The basis of the RUK OS can be an aviation complex for reconnaissance of ground targets and target designation and a PAK DA with a striker, for example, based on a missile and a control system for a promising missile system of the Iskander Ground Forces, modified for air launch. Based in the depths of its territory, the mobile air elements of the OS RUK will be less vulnerable to enemy strikes by high-precision long-range weapons.

It is necessary to note one fundamental difference between the aviation OS of the RUK and the complex with the same ground-launched percussion means. Aviation OS RUK, and these are two aircraft: reconnaissance (target designation) and an air launch OTR carrier aircraft (PAK DA), if necessary, can be moved to any area at a speed of 850-900 km / h, including over water. And in the conditions, for example, of the Far Eastern Strategic Direction (SN), which has three separate peninsular and island operational directions (Sakhalin, Kamchatka and Chukotka), or the Southern SN, such an aviation OS of the RUK is simply vital in the future.

In addition, the adoption of such a RUK OS, which, according to its performance characteristics, does not contradict the agreement on the reduction of medium-range and shorter-range missiles (respectively, 1000-5500, 500-1000 km), will actually withdraw this strike missile system at the expense of the PAK DA aviation platform beyond the scope of this agreement. And it is precisely in this range of distances from the state border of Russia that the most important regions and districts for it in operational and strategic terms are located. It is in them that the emergence of conflict situations, the emergence of a real threat to Russia's military security is possible. A relatively cheap, fully autonomous, airborne defense system (including air-to-radar and air-to-air missiles) based on PAK DA will be an effective means of deterring some countries with long-range precision weapons from aggression against Russia. The actions of this RUK OS with ballistic OTR under certain conditions acquire for them strategic importance. In addition, at a significant distance from the territory of Russia, they will have to create a missile defense system from the OTR with a short flight time and flat trajectories.

And when conducting special operations, this complex can become a means of delivering effective surprise preventive high-precision missile strikes in any area within range.

And the last in the order of enumeration, but not the last in importance, is the scope of such an aviation RUK OS. In future wars, it can become an effective means of supporting PAK DA combat operations equipped with air-launched strategic cruise missiles, especially over the expanses of the Central Asian and East Asian strategic continental regions, where the use of front-line (operational-tactical) aviation (even the 5th generation) is extremely difficult, after all, Russian air bases abroad, from which front-line aviation could solve their tasks, are extremely small in number, and they themselves are vulnerable to enemy strikes from the ground and air.

Thus, the use of PAK DA in a conventional war dictates requirements for it, mainly related to the complex of on-board radio-electronic equipment that ensures the use of promising non-nuclear cruise missiles of various launch ranges, UAB and other promising aviation weapons, air-launched ballistic OTR, as well as an airborne complex defense.

The solution by Long-Range Aviation of tasks in maritime (oceanic) theater of operations may be associated: in peacetime - with the creation of security zones along the maritime borders of Russia and the presence of our national interests in maritime (oceanic) zones; in wartime - with the destruction in the course of hostilities of naval strike, aircraft carrier and other groupings, large enemy amphibious landings in areas of concentration, when crossing by sea and in landing areas, the destruction of naval bases, ports, blocking torrential zones and, if necessary, ensuring landing operational amphibious assault forces.

The most difficult task of long-range aviation in combat operations on sea or ocean theaters has always been the task of destroying surface targets from the aircraft carrier multipurpose group (AMG). This is due to the presence of a powerful zonal-objective air defense system, the depth of which currently reaches 800 km from the center of the AMG. In addition, the use of aviation anti-ship weapons is associated with two main stages: target detection, target designation, and the aircraft entering the missile launch zone or the use of other weapons. The ranges of detection and target designation by means of on-board means of strike aircraft are limited by their tactical and technical characteristics and the range of the radio horizon, the value of which depends on the flight altitude. Simple calculations show that target designation with the help of on-board means of a missile-carrying aircraft is associated with its entry into the AMG air defense zone, and this puts forward exceptional requirements for the survivability of the aircraft in flight.

A promising direction for solving this problem may be the use of a system of reconnaissance and target designation of space-based marine objects, which can ensure continuous reconnaissance, detection of marine targets and their classification in the conditions of enemy electronic countermeasures; formation and issuance of information to consumers about targets, including attacking anti-ship missiles. Receiving information from space reconnaissance systems, PAK DA will be able to use long-range anti-ship missiles (including over-the-horizon launches) without entering the enemy AMG air defense zone.

The maritime security zones and national interests of Russia are mainly limited to the Russian sector of the Arctic Ocean Strategic Region; the Mediterranean (waters of the Azov, Mediterranean and Black Seas), northern (waters of the Barents, Greenland, Norwegian and North Seas) and Baltic (waters of the Baltic Sea) sea zones of the Atlantic Ocean Strategic Region (Atlantic OSR); Northwestern oceanic zone, Northern (Bering Sea) and Far Eastern (Okhotsk and Sea of ​​Japan) sea zones of the Pacific OSR. The distance of the distant borders of all the listed oceanic and sea zones (except for the Northwestern oceanic zone of the Pacific OSR) does not exceed 3 thousand km from the regions of Russia that are operationally equipped in terms of aviation. Removal of the far boundaries of the Northwestern oceanic zone of the Pacific OSR from the Amur-Sakhalin and Kamchatka-Chukotka regions - up to 5 thousand km. Thus, the use of PAK DA in the near sea (ocean) zones dictates a requirement for its reach - about 5000 km.

However, PAK DA formations and units can conduct combat operations in fleet operations and in distant oceanic (maritime) zones: the Northwestern and Northeastern oceanic zones of the Atlantic OSR; Northwestern and Northeastern oceanic zones of the Indian OSR; Northeastern oceanic zone and South Asian marine zone of the Pacific OSR. The distance of the centers of these zones from the coastal regions of Russia is from 6000 to 9000 km. Apparently, it is advisable to limit the requirement for PAK DA in terms of range when operating in distant sea (ocean) zones to these ranges.

Thus, the use of PAK DA on sea (ocean) theater of operations dictates requirements for it, mainly related to weapon systems that make it possible to hit enemy surface ships (including aircraft carriers) without entering the zone of destruction of their air defense systems, including during over-the-horizon launch Anti-ship missiles of a long (global) range in the listed near and far sea (ocean) zones, and an airborne defense system.

Alexander Georgievich Tsymbalov - major general of the reserve,

candidate of military sciences, professor.

Currently, only two states in the world have a special kind of air force called strategic aviation - Russia and the United States. Aircraft that are part of this branch of the armed forces are capable of carrying nuclear weapons on board and attacking an enemy located at a distance of several thousand kilometers. Strategic aviation has always been considered the elite of the American and Soviet (Russian) Air Forces.

Together with submarine missile carriers and land-based intercontinental missiles, strategic aviation forms the so-called nuclear triad, which has been the main instrument of global deterrence for many decades.

Despite the fact that the importance of strategic bombers has somewhat decreased in recent decades, they continue to be an important factor in maintaining the foreign policy balance between the Russian Federation and the United States.

At present, the list of tasks for which strategic aviation is involved has become noticeably wider. The times of nuclear confrontation have long since sunk into oblivion, but new challenges have appeared in the world. Strategic aviation is successfully mastering conventional types of ammunition (including high-precision weapons). Both the United States and Russia are quite active in using long-range bombers to launch missile and bomb strikes in Syria.

Today, the basis of the strategic aviation of the United States and Russia is made up of aircraft developed in the late 50s of the last century. A few years ago, work began in the United States on the creation of a new strategic bomber, which they plan to put into service in 2025.

A similar program exists in Russia, the new "strategist" is still called PAK DA (promising long-range aviation complex). KB is engaged in development. Tupolev, the new car is planned to be put into service by 2025. It should be emphasized that the PAK DA is not a project to modernize the currently existing strategic bombers, but the development of a fundamentally new machine using the most modern technologies that exist today in the aircraft industry.

However, before proceeding to the consideration of the PAK DA, a few words should be said about the combat vehicles that are today in service with the strategic aviation of Russia and the United States.

Strategic aviation of Russia and the USA: current state and prospects

Currently, US strategic aviation includes the B-2 Spirit and B-52 bombers. There is another aircraft - the B-1B Lancer bomber, which was developed for delivering nuclear strikes on enemy territory, but in the mid-90s it was withdrawn from the US strategic forces. The V-1V is considered an analogue of the Russian jet Tu-160, although it is inferior to the latter in size. According to data provided by the US State Department on January 1 this year, 12 B-2 aircraft and 73 B-52 aircraft of the N modification are on alert.

At present, the B-52 bomber, developed in the late 1950s, is the backbone of the American strategic forces. This aircraft is armed with AGM-86B ALCM cruise missiles, which can be equipped with a nuclear warhead. Their flight range exceeds 2700 km.

The B-2 Spirit is the most technologically advanced and most expensive aircraft in the world. Its cost exceeds the fantastic 2 billion dollars. The first bomber of this type was made in the late 80s, but ten years later the program was closed - such expenses turned out to be unbearable even for the United States. During this time, 21 V-2 aircraft were manufactured. The bomber is made using stealth technology and has the lowest RCS in the world. It is even lower than the small "stealth" type F-22 and F-35. The B-2 Spirit is armed only with free-falling bombs, so it is ineffective against an enemy with an advanced air defense system. For example, the Russian S-400 air defense systems perfectly "see" the B-2.

So the B-2 Spirit is a rather strange bomber. Despite the colossal cost, its effectiveness in a possible nuclear conflict is very ambiguous.

The B-1B Lancer is also not capable of carrying strategic cruise missiles. Rather, in the arsenal of the American army today there is no such weapon suitable for this aircraft. Currently, this bomber is used for strikes with conventional types of ammunition. Probably, free-fall bombs with nuclear warheads can be hung on it, but this machine is unlikely to be able to penetrate deep into enemy territory with effective air defense.

Now about the prospects for American strategic aviation. At the end of 2019, the aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman (which created the B-2 Spirit) won the US Department of Defense tender for the construction of a new American "strategist", which will be called B21. Work on this machine was carried out as part of the LRS-B (Long-Range Strike Bomber) program, which translates as "Long-Range Strike Bomber". We already know what the new car will look like.

Just like the B-2 Spirit, it will be made according to the "flying wing" scheme. The military demands that the new bomber become even less visible on the radar screens, and its price should be more acceptable to the American budget. The production of new bombers is planned to begin in the middle of the next decade. The US military department plans to purchase one hundred new B21s and in the future completely replace the B-2 and B-52 with them.

The new bomber will be able to fly both under crew control and in drone mode.

The total cost of the program is $80 billion.

The Russian Air Force is currently armed with two vehicles: Tu-95 (MS modification) and Tu-160 "White Swan".

The most massive strategic bomber of the Russian Air Force is the turboprop T-95 "Bear", the first flight of which took place during the life of Joseph Stalin (1952). True, it should be noted that the aircraft that are in operation today belong to the M modification and were manufactured in the 80s. So most of the T-95s are even younger than the American B-52 bombers. Moreover, in recent years, the modernization of these machines to the MSM modification has begun (35 aircraft will be remade), which will allow them to be equipped with the latest Kh-101/102 cruise missiles.

However, even the unmodernized Medved can carry the Kh-55SM missile launcher with a flight range of 3,500 km with the possibility of installing a nuclear warhead on them. The new X-101/102 missiles will be able to fly up to 5.5 thousand km. Today Russian army has 62 Tu-95 units.

The second machine currently operated by the Russian Air Force is the Tu-160 supersonic variable-wing geometry bomber. Sixteen aircraft of this type are available. The Tu-160 can also carry Kh-55SM and Kh-101/102 cruise missiles.

At present, the Tu-160M ​​modification is already being produced (the first bomber of this modification was handed over to the Russian Aerospace Forces on August 2, 2016), on which a new on-board electronics complex is installed, work is underway to create the T-160M2 modification. New modifications of the machine, in addition to cruise missiles, will be able to use free-fall bombs.

Despite the intensification of work on the modernization of the Tu-160, the project of the new PAK DA bomber, which is planned to be put into production by 2025, is moving forward at the Tupolev Design Bureau.

The development of a new strategic bomber began in 2009. The designers are faced with the task of carrying out the first flight of the aircraft as early as 2019.

It is planned that by the end of the next decade, the PAK DA will completely replace the Tu-95 and Tu-160 and become the main machine of Russian strategic aviation.

In 2012, the Tupolev Design Bureau announced that development work was beginning on the PAK DA project. According to the published information, the new bomber will be made according to the "flying wing" scheme, as well as american planes B-2 Spirit and B-21.

The large wingspan will not allow the new bomber to overcome the speed of sound, but it will provide a significant flight range and good takeoff and landing characteristics. In the design of the aircraft, they plan to actively use composite and radar-absorbing materials, which will reduce the EPR and significantly reduce the weight of the future "strategist". PAK DA will be the first domestic bomber manufactured using stealth technologies.

In addition, such a scheme provides a good combination of flight characteristics and sufficient internal volume. Which, in turn, will allow you to take on board more fuel and increase the range of the bomber.

Presumably takeoff weight bomber will exceed 100 tons (there is information about the mass of 112 tons and even 200 tons). It was stated that the combat load of the future bomber would at least not be inferior to the Tu-160, which means that he would be able to take on board more than thirty tons of missiles and bombs. The military demands a flight range of the new machine at the level of 12 thousand km.

In mid-2014, it was announced that the competition for the creation of engines for the new aircraft was won by the Kuznetsov company (Samara), presumably the power plant is called NK-65.

It is assumed that prototypes of the new bomber will be manufactured at the Kazan plant "KAPO im. Gorbunova, they also plan to place the mass production of the machine there. It is also known that the development of a radar for a new strategic bomber is currently being carried out by the Research Institute of Instrument Engineering. V.V. Tikhomirova.

It is not yet clear exactly how many new strategic bombers they plan to build, although their number will probably depend on the economic situation in the country: such machines are very expensive. Most likely, we will be able to get more accurate data on the number closer to 2020. However, if this machine is being built to replace the Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers, then the serial batch should consist of several dozen aircraft.

Information on the PAK DA project is currently very scarce. Representatives of the leadership of the Russian Air Force report on the PAK DA only general information- yes, and that is very sparingly.

If the statements of Russian military officials are to be believed, then the PAK DA will be armed with all types of aviation weapons, both existing and future ones, including missiles with hypersonic speed.

It is not entirely clear when exactly the prototype of the new machine will be made, as well as the date for launching this project into a series. The fact is that the dates announced initially are very conditional, they can change both up and down. It depends on the complexity of the design work and on the financing of the project.

In addition, the decision on the modernization and further production of Tu-160 bombers may also affect the implementation of the PAK DA program and the timing of its implementation. Currently, Russian strategic aviation is superior to the American one. First of all, due to cruise missiles, which are armed with Russian Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers. American B-2 bombers can only strike with free-fall bombs, which significantly reduces their combat effectiveness in the event of a global conflict.

The Russian KR X-101/102 are twice as long as their American counterparts in range, which puts domestic strategic aircraft in a deliberately advantageous position.

The future of new projects (B-21 in the USA and PAK DA in Russia) is still vague, both aircraft are at the initial stage of creation and it is not yet clear whether they will be fully implemented.

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