Perspective long-range aviation complex (PAK DA): Russian strategic bomber-a new-generation missile carrier

How soon will we marvel at the excellent creation of our designers, and the long-range aviation complex of long-range aviation will acquire not model but real outlines? His predecessors are already shown at MAKS-2017 in the city of Zhukovsky, although they promised their performance in 2018. Of course, this is not the expected aircraft, but Tu-160M2 has already impressed the audience in full. The flight of PAK DA in the form of the first test specimen is expected only in 2020, but you can now admire the outline of the "flying wing" by considering the model, at the same time, and learn the experts' opinion on the quality of the newly approved for the new engine complex with thrust of 23 tons.

Engine

The so-called "Product 80" was developed by the whole corporation, and now work with sketches is completed. This numbered product is a project of the engine that will carry a long-range aviation complex of long-range aviation, a constant subject of conversations and discussions among the general public, mostly from aviation and engineering developments far removed. However, the emergence of a new aircraft is literally all. Probably, there are few people in Russia who would not expect impatiently, when a promising long-range aviation complex will appear, and they would not follow the progress of work in this direction.

So, the United Engine Corporation notified the public that a draft design for this engine was adopted, and the design team began to develop the working documentation of this remarkable aircraft. The Deputy Minister of Defense, after the adoption of the preliminary design project, notified the press that the deadline for the full readiness of the PAK YES was slightly delayed. For the first time it is planned to be lifted into the air only in seven to eight years, and mass production will begin in 2029.

Description

The strategic missile carrier, which is being developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau to protect the future of our country, a promising long-range aviation complex will have many advantages over all currently existing military aviation models. He will have to take as many weapons as possible, and at the same time remain invisible in the sky and be able to use absolutely any airfields.

According to flying characteristics, PAK YES is an aircraft that is substantially superior to any bombers that ever appeared. He can barrage longer than others, on duty in the air, take off and land in any conditions, he has the best load capacity. But the requirements for the speed of the flight even the Deputy Minister Yuri Borisov does not consider it so important, since the airborne weapons have received new characteristics. This point of his report literally stirred the concerned public.

About the features of the new bomber

The conversation took place at the Kazan Aviation Plant, where Borisov arrived on a working visit. The reason for this visit is remarkable: in Kazan, the first updated bomber Tu-160M2 was started, which, according to experts, is an intermediate link between our existing long-range aviation and what will be a long-range aviation complex of long-range aviation (PAC YES). At this meeting with workers of the plant, specific information was voiced about the creation of a new bomber.

Here again, the application of the new technology will take place: our specialists have learned to cook titanium, the material is super-strong and ultra-light. The fuselages of all Tu-160s were manufactured using this method, which is still being finalized. If we do not learn to control the titanium better, we can not see a flying monster like the long-range aviation complex of long-range aviation (PAC YES).

Appearance

The very scheme of this aircraft - the flying wing - is not traditional for Russian aviation. Externally, our PAK YES is a twin-plane of the American Northrop B-2 Spirit, also a heavy and unobtrusive strategic bomber. The difference is that our "bat" will have a titanium fuselage and a huge amount of plastic (composite) parts. So the passenger liner МС-21 was created, and it turned out very well. For the first time, the design of the aircraft provided for the creation of an elongated wing, which is made of plastic - also super-strong and ultra-light. Compared with Boeing or Airbus, our results are much more economical.

But let's return to PAK YES. The bomber has previously unavailable aerodynamic capabilities due to a special fuselage. Yuri Borisov stressed that in the long-range aviation requirements for aircraft very quickly change. There is no need for supersonic speeds with access to near space, because there is no need to break through the enemy's echeloned defense. So the Tu-160 can do it and the Tu-160M2 will do it well. But the strategic bombing PAK DA will be subsonic, it will not be able to develop a speed greater than the child of the sixties - Tu-95.

"Heavenly Slug"

This vision of the situation has an explanation, and it is quite reasonable. Especially in terms of finance. Indeed: now the missiles shoot faster, further, hypersound is about to be reached. Why force a plane to do what it basically does not have to do? Especially since this optional goes so expensive. Russian bomber PAK YES in operation will be literally one order of magnitude cheaper than any supersonic car. It is not designed to break through through the defenses, it's an air arsenal, slowly barraging in the airspace.

PAK YES ("Tupolev") will carry long-range cruise missiles - absolutely deadly stock. For example, X-555 and X101, which fly from three to five thousand kilometers. And there is one more - the newest, as they say, superior to everything that was before it, but about which the specifics are still secret. In the fighter aircraft, the same trend with respect to speed characteristics appeared. For example, the F-22 Raptor, the fifth-generation fighter, it has exceptional maneuverability and supersonic speed, but neither of which is likely to be useful, as it is not assumed in modern melee combat actions. Not guns will speak, but missiles, and enter the enemy's air defense zone is not necessary.

When?

When will our new PAK DA sixth generation airplane go into industrial production? The military department is sure that it will not be so soon, because the rebuilt Tu-160 will be delivered to the stream in its new appearance. This is Tu-160M2, and the aviation industry faces the task of re-using both technological approaches and equipment in order not to pay twice for development and production. And the information on Tu-160M2 is already officially given on MAKS-2017: production is started, and it will be supplied to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2021. The on-board radio electronic equipment planned for Tu-160M2 will have to be transferred to the strategic PAK DA bomber as much as possible. Only the body and engines will be different. The project therefore is cheaper as possible.

Americans, developing their bomber Next Generation Bomber in the nineties, the final date of production is called 2035 year. PAK YES began to be developed in 2008, and Stakhanov's rates of its creation will clearly not be. Firstly, because there is no such war, where it would be an urgent necessity, and secondly, the price of this project is truly gigantic. So far, it is estimated at thirty-five billion dollars. In the United States, only ten of the design work was spent, and how much they have to invest as a whole, they do not even know about it at all. Therefore, they do not hurry either with us or with them. And the military is sure that until next Generation Bomber takes off, and our PAK YES will be delayed with the advent.

Characteristics

The size of the new bomber will be impressive: the take-off mass at the maximum will be 110 tons. For example, at Tu-160 this parameter is 275 tons, of which only the fuel weighs 148. The range of the PAK DA, designated in the technical specification, is twelve and a half thousand kilometers, and the payload weight is thirty tons. It is not enough. Tu-160 lifts forty-one tons of rockets and bombs, but the B-2 Spirit - only twenty-two.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force Engineering Committee explained that in this complex the airplane will not be the main thing, but its equipment. The complex will carry missiles with a range of up to seven thousand kilometers, which themselves decide where, when, at what altitude and at what speed to fly. The aircraft is only a means of delivery to the zone where the launch will take place. In addition, PAK DA will carry not only strategic missiles, but also other weapons - high-precision, and details concerning its characteristics are not disclosed.

Familiar and new

The engines for the new bomber were developed in Samara by the Kuznetsov company. The base engine was NK-32, the same one that is installed on our strategic Tu-160 bombers. The enterprises of the KRET concern are already developing avionics for PAK YES. According to the general agreement with aircraft builders, a unified board is created. In the design work KRET also participates.

As already mentioned, the technologies will be applied and tested, and completely new. Some devices and systems are borrowed from the latest developments, which showed the highest efficiency and reliability. Completely new will be targeting navigation in the whole complex, communication facilities, reconnaissance means, as well as electronic warfare means.

Experts say

US experts are sure that the new in Russian military aviation is necessary in order to preserve nuclear dominance. In the US, there are already nineteen invisible bombers B-2 Spirit. And now the word for Russia - will there be twelve PAK YES of the first squadron commissioned in 2025? A military expert from Romania, Valentine Vasilecu, is sure that they will, but it is possible that they have done so before.

Next, NATO experts discussed the technical characteristics of the future Russian bomber. They know that, most likely, Russia will make a new bomber similar to American B-2 Spirit, invisible to radar. Hypersonic airplanes have much less maneuver and have a lot of inertia, and therefore the PAK engines will certainly have a lot of traction, just like it was done on American bombers.

Assumptions

Design PAK YES was discussed by experts in sufficient detail and, perhaps, too many-lettered. The main idea was that in this respect, Russia borrowed the concept from its fifth-generation fighter, the T-50, and the cockpit would be made in the style of "human-computer interface" (the concept of MMI). This will raise the aircraft without the intervention of the crew - automatically.

The cabin should have a digital Electronic System Flight Instrument with a liquid crystal color screen for each of the two pilots, which will ensure the functioning of the electronic interface in flight control. The use of technology "stealth" introduces some limitations in the design of the aircraft. PAK YES will fly at night, it means that the role of on-board sensors is significantly increased, and manual control excludes hypersonic speed. Conclusion: the bomber, maybe, would be good, but in Russia it will not work well (they, of course, do not know that PAK will not have a hypersonic speed).

Will PAK have the advantages?

Experts are not sure that they will. The hull of the aircraft with a special coating will require literally ten times as long to service as conventional bombers. And most importantly, PAK YES will not be able to get advantages over the airborne radio detection and targeting complex (AWACS).

However, such advantages will be. PAK YES does not have a single point of attachment or a place for bombs and missiles under its wings, and this nullifies all the effects of radar. The full arsenal of weapons is hermetically sealed. And on the whole body - a special coating. Do not see his radar.

In addition, even our fifth-generation bombers have a so-called marine regime, and Russian pilots have an advantage because their experience in flying in the Arctic is huge. And with this, NATO experts, having thought it over, agreed, remembering how the two Tu-160 (strategic bombers) flew thirteen hours without refueling from the Russian city of Engels to Venezuela.