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The Tupolev Tu-95 (NATO reporting name Bear) is the most successful Tupolev strategic bomber and missile carrier from the times of the Soviet Union, still remaining in service as of 2005. The Bear is powered by four Kuznetsov turboprop engines, each driving contra-rotating propellers, and remains one of the fastest propeller-driven aircraft ever built. To this day it remains the only turboprop-powered bomber to have been deployed. A naval version is designated Tu-142.

Overview

For a long time, the Tu-95 was known to Western intelligence as the Tu-20. While this was, in fact, the original Soviet Air Force designation for the aircraft, by the time it was being supplied to operational units, it was already better known under the Tu-95 designation used internally by Tupolev and the Tu-20 designation fell out of use. Since the Tu-20 designation was used on many documents acquired by Western intelligence agents, the name continued in use there.

Like its American counterpart, the B-52 Stratofortress, the Tu-95 has continued to operate in the Russian Air Force while several iterations of bomber design have come and gone. Part of the reason for this longevity was its suitability, like the B-52, for modification to different missions. Whereas the Tu-95 was originally intended to drop nuclear weapons, it was subsequently modified to perform a wide range of roles, such as the deployment of cruise missiles, maritime patrol (Tu-142 Bear-F), AWACS platform (Tu-126) and even civilian airliner (Tu-114). During and after the Cold War, the Tu-95's utility as a weapons platform has only been eclipsed by its usefulness as a diplomatic icon. When a patrolling Tu-95 appears off the coast of the United States or one of its allies, it may not be the technological menace that it was in its heyday, but it is still a potent and visible symbol of the Russian capability to project military power over great distances.

The Soviet Union did not assign official "popular names" to its aircraft, although unofficial nicknames were common. Unusually, Soviet pilots found the Tu-95/Tu-142's NATO reporting name, 'Bear,' to be a fitting nickname, given the aircraft's large size, 'lumbering' maneuverability and speed, and large arsenal. It is often called Bear in Russian service. An anecdotal story states that it was actually a Russian crew who had the privilege of assigning the NATO reporting name; during the aircraft's Paris Airshow debut, a Western reporter asked the crew what the plane's name was. The pilot responded, "it can't be anything but a bear."

History

Development of the turboprop powered Tu-95 began in the 1950s as an intercontinental bomber when the Tu-4 showed that piston engines were not powerful enough to fullfil that role, and the AM-3 jet engines of the proposed T-4 intercontinental jet bomber did not provide it with enough range.FAS.org - "Tu-95 BEAR (TUPOLEV)"

The Tu-95 development was officially approved by the government on 11 July 1951, resulting in the test of the first prototype 95/1 on 12 November 1952. Series production of the airplane started in January 1956.

Initially the United States Department of Defense did not take the Tu-95 seriously, as estimates showed it had a maximum speed of 400 mph (644 km/h) with a range of 7800 miles.Aviation.ru - "Tu-20/95/142 Bear: The fastest prop-driven aircraft." This number has been revised upward numerous times.

Noise levels

The Tupolev 95 is one of the noisiest aircraft in the world. It is so loud that submarine crews could detect it during dives, picking up the clear signature of the plane's eight contra-propellers. This hampered the plane's utility in maritime patrol. During the Cold War, U.S. fighter pilots photographing Tu-95s in flight found them extraordinarily loud, even though these fighter pilots were in pressurised compartments and wearing head gear. The intercept pilots found the Bear to be uncomfortably loud and today, there are many hearing impaired former Tu-95 crewmembers in Russia.

The Tu-95's contra-rotating propeller system was an incredible technological success, and the plane ranked well on fuel efficiency and range. There were drawbacks from this system, an aspect of which being the aforementioned noise generated, but also the maintenance requirements of such a complicated powerplant.

Mischief in the Air

Due to the Tupolev 95 lumbering size and speed, many American and British fighters were often sent to watch the plane while it was in flight. Many stories abound from pilots where the Russian crew would wave to the intercepting planes. Eventually, the Russian command assigned a KGB officer on board to stop such displays of openness. During the time KGB officers were placed on the planes, American and British pilots began to play games, where they would move their planes back and forth between the front and back in order to make the KGB officers work much harder to stop crews from waving.

According to one RAF Phantom pilot:

In the daytime the mission was straightforward, and there was time for a little play with the "Bears". As far as the Soviets went, this got a little out of hand, for they started putting a KGB officer on board to stop the crew waving at us.

Some "Bear" variants had a crawl way between the front and back compartments -- a long and uncomfortable journey that involved clambering over unprotected wing spars and other obstructions. We soon worked out that by moving our jet forwards and backwards we could get this poor idiot to spend hours crawling back and forth down this tunnel, just to stop the crew from waving at us. *

On the American side, the stories sometimes involved American pilots using offensive signs and gestures in reply to the Russians waving. Some US Navy pilots claim that they would fly alongside the Russian planes and hold up the latest issue of Playboy, for the edification of the Soviet pilots. These stories are unconfirmed.

Concerning the performance of the aircraft, it has been reported by many fighter pilots that the Tu-95 was able to out-accelerate them for a short distance, especially with the SEPECAT Jaguar. There are also tales of the Russian pilots suddenly swerving to push the escorts off course or cause them to rapidly decelerate. This went both ways however, in the 1980s a Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16 collided with a Tu-95 whilst escorting it out of Norwegian airspace. Apparently, the Norwegian pilot had been edging closer and closer to the Tupolev before being caught in the propwash and having a wingtip torn off in the resulting collision. Both planes landed safely.

In fiction

  • In the movie version of The Hunt For Red October, the Tu-142 maritime patrol version plays an important role, either shown or mentioned. First seen locating and attempting to sink Red October with an air-launched torpedo, they are later mentioned as having "dropped enough sonobouys so a man could walk from Greenland, to Iceland, to Scotland, without getting his feet wet."
  • In the book Red Storm Rising, Bear D and Bear F versions of the Tu-95 are shown operating against NATO forces during WWIII.

Variants

  • Tu-95/1 - Prototype.
  • Tu-95/2 - Prototype.
  • Tu-95K - Experimental version for air-dropping a MiG-19 SM-20 jet aircraft.
  • Tu-95M-55 - Missile carrier.
  • Tu-96 - high speed bomber project, never got off the ground.
  • Tu-119 - Nuclear powered aircraft project. Just like the Tu-96 it did not fly.
  • Tu-142LL (Letayushchaya Laboratoriya - Flying Laboratory) - Engine testbed aicraft.
  • Bear A (Tu-95/Tu-95M) - Basic variant of the long-range strategic bomber and the only model of the aircraft never fitted with a nose refuelling probe.
  • Bear-A (Tu-95U - Uchebnyy) - Training version.
  • Bear B (Tu-95K/Tu-95KD) - Designed to carry the monstrous AS-3 Kangaroo air-to-surface missile. The Tu-95KD aircraft were the first to be outfitted with nose probes.
  • Bear C (Tu-95KM) - Modified and upgraded versions of the Bear B, most notable for their enhance reconnaissance systems. These were in turn converted into the Bear G configuration.
    • Bear D (Tu-95RTs - Razvedchik Tseleukazatel') - Variant of the basic Bear A configuration, redesigned for maritime electronic intelligence (ELINT) for service in the Soviet Naval Aviation. This aircraft was featured in Tom Clancy's techno-thriller Red Storm Rising.
    • Bear E (Tu-95MR) - Bear A modified for photo-reconnaissance and produced for Naval Aviation.
    • Bear F (Tu-142/Tu-142M) - Originally designed as a maritime surveillance aircraft to supplement the Bear D, the Bear F evolved to become the premier anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft of the Soviet Navy during the Cold War. The ASW variants were designated as Tu-142M2 (Bear F Mod 2), Tu-142M3 (Bear F Mod 3), and Tu-142M4 (Bear F Mod 4).
      • Bear G (Tu-95K22) - Conversions of the older Bear bombers, reconfigured to carry the AS-4 Kitchen missile and incorporating modern avionics. A number of these bombers are still operational within the Russian Air Force.
      • Bear H (Tu-95MS/Tu-95MS6/Tu-95MS16) - Roughly similar to the Bear G, but based on the Tu-142 airframe. This variant became the launch platform of the Kh-55 (AS-15 Kent) cruise missile
      • Bear J (Tu-142MR - Morskoy Razvedchik) - Variant of the Bear F modified for use in submarine communications as well as other command, control and communications (C3) duties.
      • Bear T (Tu-95U) - Training variant, modified from surviving Bear A's but now all have been retired.

      Several other modification of the basic Tu-95/Tu-142 airframe have existed but these were largely unrecognized by Western intelligence or else never reached operational status within the Soviet military. One of these modified Bears, known as the Tu-95V, was used to drop the Tsar Bomba.

      Operators

      • India, Russia, Ukraine.

      Specifications (Tu-95MS)

      References

      Related content

      Soviet bomber aircraft 1950-1959 | Tupolev | Tupolev aircraft

      Tupolew Tu-95 | Tupolev Tu-95 | Tupolev Tu-95 Bear | Tupoljev Tu-95 | Tupolev Tu-95 | Tu-95 (航空機) | Tupolev Tu-95 Bear | Ту-95

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Tupolev Tu-95".

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