Key Points and Summary: Russia’s Tu-160 “White Swan” supersonic bomber, a powerful Cold War design similar to the US B-1B, serves as a key stand-off weapons platform in the Ukraine war.
-Currently undergoing modernization (Tu-160M), its primary role involves launching Kh-101 cruise missiles from deep within Russian airspace to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, leveraging its long range and large payload capacity (“missile truck”).
Tu-160. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-While previously effective with large guided glide bombs, recent reports indicate electronic warfare is degrading their accuracy.
-Furthermore, successful Ukrainian strikes on bases like Engels-2 demonstrate that even these strategic bombers are not immune from attack far behind the front lines.
The Tu-160 Explained
Thanks to the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Cold War-era bomber has enjoyed a new lease on life.
The Tu-160 bomber is, at least, similar to the United States Air Force’s B-1B Lancer bomber. Both jets are swept-wing designs. Thanks to their flexible wing geometry, they are optimized for both low-speed and high-speed flight profiles at various altitudes.
Both jets offer a unique combination of relatively high payload capacity and a long, strategically-significant range. However, the Tu-160 also benefits from another notable feature: its four engines are the most powerful jet engines ever mated to an aircraft for the military and produce a staggering 55,000 pounds of thrust each at maximum output.
The Tu-160 Is a Missile Truck
Russia’s “White Swan” first flew with the Soviet Air Force in the 1980s, at the tail end of the Cold War. Designed to fly extremely fast, the Tu-160 was faster than some front-line fighters of its era and could deliver a strategic nuclear payload if necessary. The jet is now once again in vogue.
“The program for upgrading the Tu-160 was launched under the president’s personal decision,” a press statement from Tass, one of Russia’s state-controlled news agencies, explained.
“Under the government contract concluded between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Tupolev design bureau, the design documentation for the Tu-160M aircraft was fully digitized within a short period of time, the technique of vacuum welding of titanium products restored, and the production of airframe units was resumed. Rostec’s leading industrial enterprises in the field of metallurgy, aircraft design, engineering and instrument making revitalized their cooperation.”
Tu-160: Stand-off Use in Ukraine
Russia first used the Tu-160 in combat in 2015 during Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war. Flying from Engels Air Base in Russia, Tu-160s fired Kh-101 cruise missiles at targets in Syria—a significant display of strategic strike capability. These missions showed not only that Russia could hit precision targets at intercontinental ranges while keeping its strategic bombers out of harm’s way but also that it was committed to keeping the Assad family in power in Syria.
Russia attributed some Tu-160 strikes to hits against ISIS command posts, training camps, and logistics hubs. However, the ultimate goal may have been to enemies—to showcase Russia’s ability to prosecute long-range strikes against an enemy.
The strikes targeted what Russia described as ISIS command posts, training camps, and logistics hubs. Still, the broader goal was to showcase the Tu-160’s long-range conventional strike capability—especially the performance of the Kh-101, which was then relatively new.
Stand-off Use in Ukraine
The Tu-160 has come in useful in Moscow’s prosecution of the war in Ukraine and is used for its long-range and stand-off cruise missile attacks, particularly against Ukrainian enemy infrastructure like power grids, but also gains communions and Ukraine’s defensive industries. To that end, Tu-160s have lauded Kh-101 cruise missiles at Ukraine from locations deep within Russian airspace and far away from Ukrainian air defenses, over the Caspian Sea area or the Volga region.
One of the typical long-range bombing patterns has been to take off from Russia’s Engels Air Base, cruise to a high altitude out of Ukraine or NATO-controlled airspaces, and then launch salvos of Kh-101s at targets throughout Ukraine, particularly energy infrastructure, military depots, and air defense systems. In this conflict, the Tu-101 is particularly valued thanks to its sheer volume of curie missiles.
Thanks in part to the effectiveness of Ukrainian air defenses, the Tu-160 has enjoyed a new lease on life as a rapid and long-range platform for Russia to launch long-range weaponry at Ukrainian targets around the country in support of the rolling ground operation. Thanks to improved glide weaponry—essentially dumb bombs outfitted with satellite navigation and featuring a wing set mated to the bomb body—Russia could previously launch glide bombs across the country with impunity.
Some of Russia’s biggest glide bombs would weigh in excess of 1,500 kilos, or around 3,300 pounds—these are no small munitions.
However, those happy days may be coming to an end, thanks to improvements in electronic warfare. WarTranslated, an analyst on X from Estonia, translates posts from across the Russian internet into English. More recently, an insightful translation became available.
Russian Tu-160 bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russia’s Tu-160 Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russian Tu-160 bomber. Image Credit – Creative Commons.
Russia’s Tu-160 bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russian pilot “Fighterbomber” says that the effectiveness of Russian guide bombs fell off a cliff recently due to widespread EW interference on both sides and that Ukrainian countermeasures have rendered satellite-guided corrections useless,” WarTranslated explains.
“He says bombs often miss their targets now, but the problem was swept under the rug as it often happens in Russia to continue positive reports.”
The Tu-160’s glide bomb attacks on Ukraine seemed to have dropped off somewhat—or by another metric, their effectiveness has been degraded—and Russia’s Tu-160 fleet is far from safe now, even within Russia proper. Recently, Ukraine struck Russia’s Engels-2 air base, the location from which many of the Kremlin’s Tu-160 attacks against Ukraine have come. Though a completely accurate damage assessment is not possible, it is safe to assume that Russian air bases are not as safe as they were once thought.
What Happens Now?
Although Russia’s fleet of Tu-160s is not as well-supported as other combat aircraft, that particular jet continues to play a significant role in the ongoing war in Ukraine as a stand-off long-range weapons platform of choice for Russia.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
