Russia surprised the world by announcing the successful test flight of a Tu-160M heavy strategic bomber, which dates back to the Cold War era and equipped with the new NK-32-02 engines. The Tu-160M missile launcher successfully carried out its maiden flight with the new NK-32-02 sequent engines at Kazan Aviation Airport.
The TU-160 is a multi-modal supersonic strategic bomber that carries variable swept wing missiles.
This bomber is capable of carrying up to 12 strategic cruise missiles on two multi-position rotating launchers inside the fuselage.
The newly manufactured Tu-160 bombers and their upgraded versions will not differ significantly from each other, but technically they received different designations from the Ministry of Defence; Tu-160M for updated operational aircraft and Tu-160M2 for bombers built from a scratch.
