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.

FMI: www.airforce-technology.com/projects/tu160/