program has been run separately to the
wide-ranging Tu-95MSM upgrade.
First of the new weapons to be added
were Kh-555 missiles, non-nuclear
conversions of the Cold War-era Kh-55
(AS-15 ‘Kent’). A total of six can be carried
internally on the existing MKU-6-5 rotary
launcher.
Next came the all-new Kh-102 and Kh-
101, eight of which can be carried on four
underwing pylons. These weapons can’t
be accommodated internally, as at 7.5m
long they are too big for the bomb bay
— scaled for the 6m Kh-55 missile. While
these new missiles are far more capable,
they have a detrimental effect on the
bomber’s range, reduced from 6,524 miles
with six internal missiles (and without in-
flight refueling) to around 4,350 miles.
Aircraft chosen for the missile upgrade
are from the later production batch,
which differ in being equipped with the
more advanced Sprut (‘Octopus’) missile
operating system. These constitute around
half the current fleet of approximately 60
Tu-95MS bombers, divided between two
operational bases at Engels and Ukrainka.
Around half a dozen more ‘Bear-Hs’ are
found at the crew conversion center at
Ryazan, with a handful also assigned to
test duties at Zhukovsky near Moscow.Test campaign
It was at Zhukovsky that initial tests of
the Tu-95MS armed with the Kh-101/
Kh-102 missile were carried out, using a
pair of aircraft belonging to Tupolev. A
first launch of the Kh-101/-102 missile was
conducted around 2004.
The new AKU-5M missile pylons are
produced at the Beriev plant in Taganrog,
where the first aircraft upgradeswere carried out. Work included
strengthening the wing structure to
enable carriage of the new weapons.
The first Russian Air and Space Force
aircraft adapted for carrying the new
missiles was ‘10/1’/RF-94128, named
Saratov, which was completed at
Taganrog by early 2015.
Soon after, similar upgrade work
began at Samara, where new pylons and
weapons interfaces were added during
regular overhauls. This plant delivered
its first upgraded aircraft, ‘20’/RF-94122,
named Dubna, in November 2015.
Examples of both the Kh-101 and
Kh-555 were employed during the
Tu-95MS’s combat debut over Syria on
November 17, 2015.Future ‘Bear’
The Tu-95MSM upgrade program is
being carried out simultaneously with
the introduction of the new armament.
The research and development program
was ordered in December 2009
and, in common with other Russian
aircraft upgrade initiatives, it has been
undertaken in stages, with Tupolev as
prime contractor.
The first stage replaced the existing
navigation equipment with new satellite
navigation receiver, VOR/ILS, short-range
radio navigation system, automatic
direction finder, radar altimeters and
other items.
An initial aircraft to undergo the first-
stage upgrade was overhauled by Beriev
during 2009-10 and then handed over to
Tupolev. Serial upgrades were launched
in 2014. A first example — Tu-95MS
‘62’ — was handed over to the VKS in
December that year.This image:
Tu‑95MS ‘59
Red’/RF‑ 94206
over Moscow.
Remarkably, Andrei
Tupolev’s Tu‑ 95
first took to the
air on November
12, 1952, making
it almost as old
as the USAF’s
equivalent B‑ 52
intercontinental
bomber that first
flew on April 15 the
same year.
Below left to
right: A Tu‑95MS
thunders down the
taxiway under the
power of two of its
four Kuznetsov NK‑
12MP turboprops,
each developing
15,000shp
(11,185kW)
maximum power.
Each eight‑blade
propeller unit has
two four‑blade
co‑axial contra‑
rotating propellers,
of 5.6m diameter.
Tu‑95MS ‘59 Red’/
RF‑94206 prepares
to depart towards
Moscow. A total
of 88 Tu‑95MS
bombers were
produced during
1982 ‑92, mainly
in Samara (a first
batch of 12 came
off the Taganrog
production line).TYPE REPORT // Tu-95
84 August 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
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