Greek word "strategy" expresses the concept of meaningful terms of achieving the main goal.In the military aspect, it means directed sequence of action in order to achieve victory in an armed conflict in general, without going into detail and specification of the individual steps.To accomplish this, modern armed forces of some countries have special means.These include specific provisions, missile forces, nuclear submarine fleet, and strategic aviation.Russian Air Force in its composition have two types of long-range bombers capable of striking at remote sites virtually anywhere in the world.
Brief History of Russian strategic aviation
world's first strategic bombers appeared in the Russian Empire.The requirement for this class of airplanes consisted in the ability to convey to the target sufficiently large quantity of ammunition and to put the economy and industry of the country hostile considerable damage.
60 bombers of the "Ilya Muromets" is a special air squadron, while remaining invulnerable, were for the cities and factories of Austria-Hungary and Germany, a serious threat throughout the First World War, during which was lost only one aircraft thattype.
revolution and civil war set back the development of the aviation industry.School aircraft was lost, the designer of "Murom" Sikorsky emigrated from the country, while the remaining copies of the world's first long-range bomber died ignominiously.In the new government had other worries, their plans do not include defense.The Bolsheviks dreamed of a world revolution.
aircraft for defense
Russian strategic aviation in its concept was a defensive weapon as well as the seizure of the destroyed industrial base, as a rule, are not included in the plans of the aggressor.In the pre-war years in the Soviet Union it was a unique bomber TB-7, surpassing the best at the time a sample of the Class B-17 "Flying Fortress".It is on this aircraft Molotov visited Great Britain in 1941, freely breaking the airspace of Nazi Germany.However, the standard is a miracle of technology has taken place.
After the war, the Soviet Union has been completely copied to the American B-29 (Tu-4), the need for this type of aircraft has become a daily occurrence since the nuclear threat, and time to develop their own design is not enough.However, with the advent of jet interceptors obsolete and the bomber.They needed new solutions, and they were found.
missile or a plane?
Along with nuclear missile submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the task of countering global threats and decides strategic aviation.Russian nuclear armament class carriers is divided into three components that make up a kind of triad.After the appearance of quite sophisticated ICBMs in the 50 years the Soviet leadership had some illusions about the universality of the means of delivery, but the design work started under Stalin, decided not to terminate all.
main incentive for the continuation of research in the field of construction of heavy machines with a large radius of action was the adoption of the US Air Force in 1956, the B-52 bomber, subsonic and possesses great combat load.Symmetrical response was the Tu-95 four-engine jet with swept wings.Time has shown that the decision to develop this project was right.
Tu-95 against the B-52
After the collapse of the Soviet Union strategic nuclear delivery vehicles Tu-95 entered into service of the Russian aviation.Despite its age, this machine continues to serve as a missile.Large, powerful and durable design allows you to use it as a launcher airborne as overseas analog of B-52.Both aircraft entered service almost simultaneously and have some similar characteristics.And Tu-95 and B-52 at the time costly to states, but were designed and built on the conscience, so have a very long lifespan.Volumetric bomb bay can accommodate cruise missiles (X-55), which can start with the side that creates the conditions for a nuclear strike without crossing the boundaries of the attacked country.
After the modernization of the Tu-95MS and dismantling mechanisms for discharging ammunition svobodnopadayuschie actually long-range aviation of the Russian Federation received a new strategic aircraft equipped with modern navigation equipment and guidance systems.
missile bases airborne
Besides the US, the world only in the Russian Federation there is a park long-range bombers.Since 1991 he has been dormant, the state did not have enough funds to maintain technical readiness, and even fuel.In 2007 alone, Russia resumed flights of strategic aviation on a variety of regions of the world, including along the American coast.Missile carriers Tu-95 is carried in the air non-stop for almost two days, refuel and return to the airbase, demonstrating the possibility in the case of a nuclear conflict to contribute to the impact of the global retaliation.But not only these machines can perform the task of deterrence.There is also a supersonic strategic aviation of Russia.
not shoot the "white swans", it is useless
Adopting the US Air Force announced well back in the seventies, the strategic supersonic bomber B-1 could not go unnoticed by the Soviet leadership.In the early eighties the Soviet Air Force added a new plane, the Tu-160.After the collapse of the Soviet Union's strategic aviation Russia inherited most of them, except for the cut for scrap in the Ukraine, and ten pieces of the "White Swan", which became a museum exhibit in Poltava.On the technical and flight characteristics of the bomber bomber is an example of the new generation, it has a variable sweep wing, four jet engines, stratospheric ceiling (21 million meters) and significantly greater than the Tu-95, combat load (45 tons versus 11).The main advantage of the "White Swan" - supersonic speed (up to 2200 km / h).The radius of the combat application allows to reach the American continent.Interception aircraft with parameters such professionals is problematic task.
Conditionally strategic Tu-22
structure of strategic aviation in the USSR and Russia have much in common.Fleet inherited, it can serve for a long time, but basically consists of two types of machines - Tu-95 and Tu-160.But there is one bomber who did not fully correspond to the strategic objective, although it can make a decisive contribution to the result of a global conflict.Tu-22M is not considered serious and is classified as medium, he develops supersonic speed and can carry a large number of cruise missiles.This aircraft has no characteristic of intercontinental bombers flying range, so conventionally considered strategic.It is designed to strike at bases and bridgeheads probable enemy located in Asia and Europe.
Will the new strategic bombers?
Russian strategic aviation currently consists of tens of three main types of machines (Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22).All of them are not new, considerable time spent in the air, and perhaps someone may seem that these machines need to be replaced.Journalists are far from military issues, sometimes called the "Bear" Tu-95 relic machine.It should, however, be considered in any phenomenon comparison.Americans scrapped its B-52 is not going to send, they sometimes fly grandchildren of the first pilots to master them, but these air giants junk no name-calling.New types of strategic bombers of our opponents is likely to build as far as we know, no plans, considering them may rapidly aging mentally class technology.Most likely, the Russian side will not initiate a new round of the arms race.
