One of 16 Tu-160s, Destroyed
A Russian Tu-160 bomber has gone down in the Saratov region of
Russia. The aircraft departeda Ukrainian base, with a crew of four,
during a test flight to evaluate a new engine. The Tu-160, a
long-range, supersonic bomber, reported a fire on board the
aircraft at 1103 local time and went off radar some ten minutes
later. Radio calls at 1120 went unanswered, and the aircraft is
assumed to have gone down by then. The bomber had just been
outfitted with a new engine due to an oil leak in the previous
powerplant.
The Tu-160 crash site was located at 1230, with all crew members
identified and pronounced deceased at the scene. The aircraft was
unarmed for this test, and had been flying at low altitudes...
often at altitudes as low as 300-3000 feet, when the emergency
occurred. The low altitude sequence is expected to have played a
part in the reason that the crew did not eject from the stricken
bomber. The standard crew of a Tu-160 generally consists of a
pilot, copilot, navigator, and an operator. All crew positions are
equipped with zero/zero ejection seats.
"The crew of the Tu-160 had no time to escape. It is clear that
something unusual happened on board," said Air Force Chief of Staff
General Boris Cheltsov.
There are only 15 such aircraft in service. The Defense Ministry
has ordered that all remaining Tu-160 bombers be grounded until the
crash investigation is complete. The Tu-160 first started flying in
1987, and are considered the backbone of the Air Force's strategic
nuclear fleet.
In addition to the 15 remaining Tu-160 bombers, two more are
under construction at the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Production
Association in Kazan, at an estimated cost of $1B a piece. In
addition to the Tu-160, 63 long-range nuclear-capable Tu-95s are in
service. While they can carry long-range nuclear weapons,
they are SUB-sonic.
The downed bomber was commissioned 12 years ago and was supposed
to have a service life of at least another decade, according to
Cheltsov. This aircraft was listed as No. 1 in the air strategic
command and bore the number 01. It is the second Tu-160 to
experience such an accident, with a Tu-160 downed in March 1987
near the Zhukovsky air base (near Moscow) after another engine
fire.