Tupolev Tu-95

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Tu-95
Tu-95MR Bear J
Type	Strategic bomber, naval patrol, missile carrier, airborne surveillance, airliner
Manufacturer	Tupolev
Designed by	N.I. Bazenkov
Maiden flight	November 12, 1952
Status	Active in service
Primary user	Russian Air Force Russian Naval Aviation
Variants	Tu-114 (civilian airliner) Tu-119 (nuclear aircraft)

The Tupolev Tu-95 (NATO reporting name Bear) is the most successful and longest-serving Tupolev strategic bomber and missile carrier built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The Tu-95 is still in service, as of 2007, and expected to remain so with the Russian Air Force until at least 2010.^[1] The Bear is powered by four Kuznetsov turboprop engines, each driving contra-rotating propellers, and remains one of the fastest propeller-driven aircraft ever built. To date, it remains the only turboprop-powered bomber to have entered operational service. A naval version of the bomber is designated Tu-142.

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 Noise levels 4 Cold War icon 5 Mischief in the Air 6 Present and Future Status 7 Variants 8 Operators 9 Specifications (Tu-95MS) 10 References 11 Related content

[edit] Overview

For a long time, the Tu-95 was known to Western intelligence as the Tu-20. While this was the original Soviet Air Force designation for the aircraft, by the time it was being supplied to operational units it was already better known under the Tu-95 designation used internally by Tupolev. The Tu-20 designation quickly fell out of use in the USSR. Since the Tu-20 designation was used on many documents acquired by Western intelligence agents, however, the name continued to be used outside the Soviet Union.

Like its American counterpart, the B-52 Stratofortress, the Tu-95 has continued to operate in the Russian Air Force while several iterations of bomber design have come and gone. Part of the reason for this longevity was its suitability, like the B-52, for modification to different missions. Whereas the Tu-95 was originally intended to drop nuclear weapons, it was subsequently modified to perform a wide range of roles, such as the deployment of cruise missiles, maritime patrol (Tu-142 Bear-F), AWACS platform (Tu-126) and even civilian airliner (Tu-114). During and after the Cold War, the Tu-95's utility as a weapons platform has only been eclipsed by its usefulness as a diplomatic icon. When a patrolling Tu-95 appears off the coast of the United States or one of its allies, it may not be the technological menace that it was in its heyday, but it is still a potent and visible symbol of the Russian capability to project military power over great distances.

The Soviet Union did not assign official "popular names" to its aircraft, although unofficial nicknames were common. Unusually, Soviet pilots found the Tu-95/Tu-142's NATO reporting name, 'Bear,' to be a fitting nickname, given the aircraft's large size, 'lumbering' maneuverability and speed, and large arsenal. It is often called Bear in Russian service. An anecdotal story states that it was actually a Russian crew who had the privilege of assigning the NATO reporting name; during the aircraft's Paris Airshow debut, a Western reporter asked the crew what the plane's name was. The pilot responded, "it can't be anything but a bear."

[edit] History

Development of the turboprop powered Tu-95 began in the 1950s as an intercontinental bomber when the Tu-4 showed that piston engines were not powerful enough to fulfill that role, and the AM-3 jet engines of the proposed T-4 intercontinental jet bomber did not provide it with enough range.^[2]

The Tu-95 development was officially approved by the government on 11 July 1951, resulting in the test of the first prototype 95/1 on 12 November 1952. Series production of the airplane started in January 1956.

Initially the United States Department of Defense did not take the Tu-95 seriously, as estimates showed it had a maximum speed of 400 mph (644 km/h) with a range of 7800 miles.^[3] This number had to be revised upward numerous times.

[edit] Noise levels

The Tupolev 95 is one of the noisiest aircraft in the world. It is so loud that submarine crews could detect it during dives, picking up the clear signature of the plane's eight contra-rotating propellers. This hampered the plane's utility in maritime patrol. During the Cold War, U.S. fighter pilots photographing or intercepting the Tu-95s in flight found them extraordinarily loud, even though these fighter pilots were in pressurized compartments and wearing head gear. Today, there are many hearing impaired former Tu-95 crew members in Russia.

The Tu-95's contra-rotating propeller system was an incredible technological success, and the plane ranked well on fuel efficiency and range. There were drawbacks from this system, an aspect of which being the aforementioned noise generated, but also the maintenance requirements of such a complicated powerplant.

[edit] Cold War icon

The Bear D variant in particular was a veritable icon of the Cold War as it performed a vital maritime surveillance and targeting mission for other aerial platforms as well as surface and submarine cruise missile launch platforms. It was identifiable by a large bulge radar under the fuselage that was used to search for and target surface ships particularly aircraft carriers. The US Navy placed high priority in intercepting the Bear D aircraft at least two hundred miles from the carrier with their F-14 Tomcat interceptors, which would stay in an escort position ready to down their prey if Rules of Engagement were satisfied. The tail gunner position typically kept the twin cannon pointed upwards as to not antagonize the intercepting fighters. Similarly, NATO ROE for interceptions restricted aircrews from locking up the Bear with their fire control radar lest it be misinterpreted as a hostile act. During operations in Vestfjord in 1985 as part of the NATO exercise Ocean Safari, USS America operated under the shelter of the steep sides of the fjord precisely to avoid the I-band search radar of the patrolling Bear D aircraft sent to target the America Battle Group, which had played "cat and mouse" for weeks with the Bear Ds sent daily to locate the battle group after it arrived in the Green-Iceland-United Kingdom/GIUK gap. America's Tomcats demonstrated ability to intercept the sections of Bear D aircraft at ranges up to 1000 miles from the Battle Group. During height of Cold War, the long range of the Bear was demonstrated weekly as a pair of Bears would fly from the Kola peninsula to Cuba down the east coast of the United States while being escorted continuously along the way.

[edit] Mischief in the Air

Western fighters were often sent to intercept Tu-95s as they performed their missions along the periphery of NATO airspace, often in very close formation. This sometimes led to unofficial communication between the two sides. According to one RAF Phantom pilot:

In the daytime the mission was straightforward, and there was time for a little play with the "Bears". As far as the Soviets went, this got a little out of hand, for they started putting a KGB officer on board to stop the crew waving at us.

Some "Bear" variants had a crawl way between the front and back compartments -- a long and uncomfortable journey that involved clambering over unprotected wing spars and other obstructions. We soon worked out that by moving our jet forwards and backwards we could get this poor idiot to spend hours crawling back and forth down this tunnel, just to stop the crew from waving at us. [1]

On the American side, the stories sometimes involved American pilots using offensive signs and gestures in reply to the Soviets waving. Some US Navy pilots would fly alongside the Russian planes and hold up the latest issue of Playboy.

Concerning the performance of the aircraft, it has been reported by many fighter pilots that the Tu-95 was able to out-accelerate them for a short distance, especially with the SEPECAT Jaguar. There are also tales of the Soviet pilots suddenly swerving to push the escorts off course or cause them to rapidly decelerate. This went both ways however, in the 1980s a Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16 collided with a Tu-95 whilst escorting it out of Norwegian airspace. Apparently, the Norwegian pilot had been edging closer and closer to the Tupolev before being caught in the propwash and having a wingtip torn off in the resulting collision. Both planes landed safely.

As late as 1999, Russian Bears, usually flying in pairs, have come within striking distance both from the Iceland/Greenland route of North Atlantic and Alaska/Bering Sea route of North Pacific. In June of 1999, the Bears, along with two Tu-160s turned back after being intercepted by US fighters, this happened again in September but the Bears turned back without making contact.

On September 29, 2006 NORAD scrambled Canadian CF-18s from CFB Cold Lake in Central Alberta and American F-15s out of an airbase in Alaska to intercept "a number of the Russian Tu-95 Bear heavy bombers participating in an annual Russian air force exercise near the coast of Alaska and Canada." This launch was a result of the bombers penetrating the North America's Air Defense Identification Zone. More details are available on this Canadian Forces News Release.

[edit] Present and Future Status

All Tu-95s now in Russian and Ukrainian service are the Tu-95MS variant, built in 1980s and 1990s. Development of a new air-to-surface weapon to replace the KH-55 was underway in the early 1990s, although due to technical problems and financial difficulties, this has been cancelled.

[edit] Variants

• Tu-95/1 - Prototype.
• Tu-95/2 - Prototype.
• Tu-95K - Experimental version for air-dropping a MiG-19 SM-20 jet aircraft.
• Tu-95M-55 - Missile carrier.
• Tu-96 - high speed bomber project, never got off the ground.
• Tu-119 - Nuclear powered aircraft project. Just like the Tu-96 it did not fly.
• Tu-142LL (Letayushchaya Laboratoriya - Flying Laboratory) - Engine testbed aircraft.
• Bear A (Tu-95/Tu-95M) - Basic variant of the long-range strategic bomber and the only model of the aircraft never fitted with a nose refuelling probe.
• Bear-A (Tu-95U - Uchebnyy) - Training version.
• Bear B (Tu-95K/Tu-95KD) - Designed to carry the AS-3 Kangaroo air-to-surface missile. The Tu-95KD aircraft were the first to be outfitted with nose probes.
• Bear C (Tu-95KM) - Modified and upgraded versions of the Bear B, most notable for their enhance reconnaissance systems. These were in turn converted into the Bear G configuration.

• Bear D (Tu-95RTs - Razvedchik Tseleukazatel') - Variant of the basic Bear A configuration, redesigned for maritime reconnaissance and targeting as well as electronic intelligence (ELINT) for service in the Soviet Naval Aviation. This aircraft was featured in Tom Clancy's techno-thriller Red Storm Rising.
• Bear E (Tu-95MR) - Bear A modified for photo-reconnaissance and produced for Naval Aviation.
• Bear F (Tu-142/Tu-142M) - Originally designed as a maritime surveillance aircraft to supplement the Bear D, the Bear F evolved to become the premier anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. The ASW variants were designated as Tu-142M2 (Bear F Mod 2), Tu-142M3 (Bear F Mod 3), and Tu-142M4 (Bear F Mod 4). This aircraft was featured in the 1990 film adaptation of Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October.
• Bear G (Tu-95K22) - Conversions of the older Bear bombers, reconfigured to carry the AS-4 Kitchen missile and incorporating modern avionics.
• Bear H (Tu-95MS/Tu-95MS6/Tu-95MS16) - Completely new cruise missile carrier platform based on the Tu-142 airframe. This variant became the launch platform of the Kh-55 (AS-15 Kent) cruise missile. The Bear-H was referred to by the U.S. military as a Tu-142 for some time in the 1980s before its true designation became known.
• Bear J (Tu-142MR - Morskoy Razvedchik) - Variant of the Bear F modified for use in submarine communications as well as other command, control and communications (C3) duties.
• Bear T (Tu-95U) - Training variant, modified from surviving Bear A's but now all have been retired.

Several other modification of the basic Tu-95/Tu-142 airframe have existed but these were largely unrecognized by Western intelligence or else never reached operational status within the Soviet military. One of these modified Bears, known as the Tu-95V, was used to drop the Tsar Bomba.

[edit] Operators

• India
  • Indian Navy
• Russia / Soviet Union
• Ukraine

[edit] Specifications (Tu-95MS)

General characteristics

• Crew: Seven - two pilots, one tailgunner, four others
• Length: 49.50 m (162 ft 5 in)
• Wingspan: 51.10 m (167 ft 8 in)
• Height: 12.12 m (39 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 310 m² (3,330 ft²)
• Empty weight: 90,000 kg (198,000 lb)
• Loaded weight: kg (lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 188,000 kg (414,500 lb)
• Powerplant: 4× Kuznetsov NK-12MV turboprops, 11,000 kW (14,800 shp)^[4] each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 925 km/h (500 kt, 575 mph)
• Range: 15,000 km (8,100 nm, 9,400 mi)
• Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 10 m/s (2,000 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 606 kg/m² (124 lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: 235 W/kg (0.143 hp/lb)

Armament

• Guns: 1 or 2× AM-23 23 mm cannon in tail turret
• Missiles: Up to 15,000 kg (33,000 lb), including the Kh-20, Kh-22, Kh-26, and Kh-55 air-to-surface missiles

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/bomber/tu-95.htm
2. ^ FAS.org - "Tu-95 BEAR (TUPOLEV)"
3. ^ Aviation.ru - "Tu-20/95/142 Bear: The fastest prop-driven aircraft."
4. ^ Originally measured as 15,000 PS.

[edit] Related content

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrhKPog7o8k The Tu-95 in action.

Related development

• Tu-96
• Tu-99
• Tu-114
• Tu-116
• Tu-119
• Tu-126
• Tu-142

Comparable aircraft

• B-52 Stratofortress

Designation sequence

• Tupolev sequence: Tu-89 - Tu-90 - Tu-91 - Tu-95 - Tu-96 - Tu-98 - Tu-99
• Soviet Air Force sequence: Tu-12 - Tu-14 - Tu-16 - Tu-20 - Tu-22/Tu-22M - Tu-24 - Tu-26

Related lists

• List of bomber aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS

See also

• Tupolev Tu-160