Combat Aircraft – August 2019

A

MONG THE MILITARY

hardware taking part in the

May 9 parade was a Russian

Federation Air and Space

Force (VKS RF, Vozdushno-

Kosmicheskiye Sily

Rossiyskoy Federatsii) Tu-95MS, ‘59 Red’/

RF-94206, named Blagoveshchensk, after a

city in the Amur Oblast in the country’s far

east. Another aircraft, ‘61 Red’/RF-94187,

was prepared as a reserve.

Both these ‘Bear-Hs’ were involved in the

Victory Parade for the first time. They are

home based at Ukrainka, also in the far

east, where they serve the 182nd Heavy

Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 326th

Heavy Bomber Aviation Division. The

326 TBAD is a historic division that itself

dates back to World War Two, when it was

created in October 1943.

Reflecting their primary role of

intercontinental-range cruise missile

carrier, the two bombers were fitted with

underwing pylons for new-generation

nuclear Kh-102 and conventional Kh-101

cruise missiles.

Missile modernization

Introduction of new missiles for the

‘Bear-H’ began in the early 2000s and the

A pair of recently upgraded

Tu-95MS ‘Bear-H’ strategic

bombers were prepared for

this year’s Victory Parade

that centered on Moscow’s

Red Square, celebrating the

74th anniversary of the Soviet

Union’s victory over Nazi

Germany.

REPORT Thomas Newdick

PHOTOS Dmitriy Pichugin

This image: Some of

‘Bear-H’ flight crew

are visible in this

shot. The Tu-95MS is

operated by a crew

of seven comprising

two pilots, navigator,

navigator/defense

system operator,

communications

operator, and

flight engineer

in the forward

fuselage, plus a tail

gunner in the rear

compartment.

Below left to right:

A ‘Bear-H’ prepares

to take on fuel from

an Il-78 tanker, via

the in-flight refueling

probe conveniently

installed on the nose,

ahead of the cockpit.

A maximum of

84,000kg of internal

fuel is carried in eight

wing tanks plus three

fuselage tanks.

Tu-95MS ‘61 Red’/

RF-94187 was the

reserve aircraft for

the May flypast.

Thanks to its four

powerful engines

and swept wing, the

Tu-95 is the world’s

fastest turboprop

production aircraft.

In the original

Tu-95MS, the

nose radome

accommodates an

Obzor-MS (NATO

‘Clam Pipe’) nav/

attack radar, with a

weather radar above.

Missile initialization

and launch is

handled by the

Sprut system in later

aircraft, or the Osina

(‘Aspen’) system in

earlier airframes.

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