Putin: Russia to build new strategic bomber

**vector7** · March 2nd, 2010, 16:22

Putin: Russia to build new strategic bomber

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV (AP) – 20 hours ago

China – Xian H-8 stealth bomber / bombing run over city / concept

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia will build a new strategic bomber, a move that comes as the nation tries to upgrade its aging military arsenal.

Putin said in televised remarks that work on the bomber must follow the development of a prospective stealth fighter, which made its maiden flight in January and was hailed by the government as a big step in military modernization efforts.

"We won't limit ourselves to just one new model," Putin said at a government meeting that focused on military aviation. "We must start work on a prospective long-range aircraft, our new strategic bomber."

Putin didn't mention any details in his public remarks, but said that the development of new aircraft engines, materials for aircraft construction and electronics will be the top priorities.

The chief of the Russian long-range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, said earlier this year that a prospective new bomber must join the air force in 2025-2030. Zhikharev said the new aircraft should replace the Soviet-built Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers.

While the first flight of the new stealth fighter, the T-50, was cheered by the government, observers noted that it came nearly two decades after the first prototype of the U.S. F-22 Raptor took to the air.

No images of the prospective new Russian strategic bomber have been published, but some commentators said it might follow the design of the U.S. B-2 bomber, which also made its first flight more than 20 years ago.

Military analysts said that new Russian weapons programs have suffered from post-Soviet industrial degradation that badly affected the production quality and slowed down new developments.

Putin acknowledged that the new fighter program is still in its early stage, adding that the aircraft will have to conduct about 2,000 test flights before it goes into production. He said earlier that the fighter's serial production is set to begin in 2015.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

**vector7** · March 2nd, 2010, 16:25

Updated March 01, 2010
Putin Wants Modern Bombers

Reuters

Once it has completed work on its own fifth-generation fighter, Russia must proceed with designing a brand-new nuclear-capable strategic bomber, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

A photograph from Wikipedia reportedly of a Sukhoi PAK FA fifth generation fighter prototype taxiing on the day of its first flight, 29 January 2010.

MOSCOW -- Once it has completed work on its own fifth-generation fighter, Russia must proceed with designing a brand-new nuclear-capable strategic bomber, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"Certainly, we should not confine ourselves to developing just one new model. After the fifth-generation fighter jet, we must think and get down to work on a next-generation, long-range aviation complex -- our new strategic missile carrier," Putin told a cabinet meeting on Russia's military-industrial complex.

After the demise of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited a fleet of the still formidable but fast-aging Tupolev Tu-95MS turbo-prop strategic bombers and missile platforms codenamed "Bears" by NATO.

It also has a much smaller fleet of the more modern, supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 "Blackjack" jet bombers, the world's biggest warplanes built so far.

Russia test-flew its long-awaited stealth fighter at the end of January, presenting it as Moscow's first all-new warplane since the 1991 Soviet collapse and a challenge to the technological supremacy of Cold War foe the United States which rolled out its fifth-generation fighter more than a decade ago.

Putin, then president, ordered in 2007 to resume Soviet-style patrols of Russian bombers around the globe, seeing it as a way of boosting Moscow's stature in the world.

**vector7** · March 2nd, 2010, 16:26

Putin: Russia to build new strategic bomber after PAK FA T-50 fighter jet

**vector7** · March 2nd, 2010, 16:30

Putin Calls For New Strategic Bombers

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

After Russia finishes developing its latest fighter jet, the country must begin work on a new nuclear-capable strategic bomber, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 23, 2009).

"Certainly, we should not confine ourselves to developing just one new model. After the fifth-generation fighter jet, we must think and get down to work on a next-generation, long-range aviation complex -- our new strategic missile carrier," Putin told Cabinet officials in Moscow, Reuters reported.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was left with a fleet of deteriorating though still dangerous Tupolev Tu-95MS turboprop strategic bombers and "Bear" missile platforms. The country also possesses a smaller number of the more advanced Tupolev Tu-160 jet bombers, which are the largest warplanes to be built by any nation to date.

As president in 2007, Putin commanded the resumption of bomber patrols around the planet as a means to raise Russia's stature in the international community (Gleb Bryanski, Reuters, March 1).

Meanwhile, Russia intends to remove spent nuclear fuel this month from a Borisoglebsk K-496 nuclear-fueled submarine, Interfax reported.
"The unloading started in December 2009. It is proceeding normally," a source at the Zvezdochka shipyard said.

Dismantlement of the submarine is being paid for by Russia's atomic energy organization and foreign sources. Canada is funding the removal of used fuel and Washington is financing the destruction of missile silos and the reactor unit.

The submarine is equipped with 16 launchers for RSM-50 ICBMs (Interfax, March 1).

**vector7** · March 2nd, 2010, 16:33

With new fighter in hand, Putin wants modern bombers

MOSCOW
Mon Mar 1, 2010 2:56pm EST

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks during a cabinet meeting on Russia's military-industrial complex in Moscow, March 1, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Ria Novosti/Pool/Alexei Druzhinin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Once it has completed work on its own fifth-generation fighter, Russia must proceed with designing a brand-new nuclear-capable strategic bomber, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

World | Russia

"Certainly, we should not confine ourselves to developing just one new model. After the fifth-generation fighter jet, we must think and get down to work on a next-generation, long-range aviation complex -- our new strategic missile carrier," Putin told a cabinet meeting on Russia's military-industrial complex. After the demise of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited a fleet of the still formidable but fast-aging Tupolev Tu-95MS turbo-prop strategic bombers and missile platforms codenamed "Bears" by NATO.

It also has a much smaller fleet of the more modern, supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 "Blackjack" jet bombers, the world's biggest warplanes built so far.

Russia test-flew its long-awaited stealth fighter at the end of January, presenting it as Moscow's first all-new warplane since the 1991 Soviet collapse and a challenge to the technological supremacy of Cold War foe the United States which rolled out its fifth-generation fighter more than a decade ago.

Putin, then president, ordered in 2007 to resume Soviet-style patrols of Russian bombers around the globe, seeing it as a way of boosting Moscow's stature in the world.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Charles Dick)

**vector7** · March 2nd, 2010, 16:38

Putin instructs air force to upgrade arms

MOSCOW, Mar. 1 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday urged the Russian Air Force to speed up the modernization of its equipment, with new arms accounting for less than 80 percent of its military arsenal in the coming decade.

Russia's Armed Forces will receive more than 1,500 airplanes and helicopters and about 200 air defense systems within the next decade under the state armaments program, Putin said in televised remarks.

New hardware will make up at least 80 percent of the Air Force' s weapons and 75 percent of the air defense arms, Putin said at a government meeting on military aviation.

Long-term contracts to supply the Air Force with 130 warplanes were signed in 2008 and 2009, he said. "In 2010, 27 planes, more than 50 helicopters and five S-400 missile systems will be purchased for the army."

Putin believed that Russia's fifth-generation jet fighter would be put into service with the Air Force from 2015 as planned, although the jet should complete over 2,000 test flights before it goes into serial production.

He also pressed the aviation industry to start work on a new- generation long-range strategic bomber.

"We should not limit ourselves to just one new model. After the fifth-generation fighter jet, we must start work on a next- generation, long-range aircraft, our new strategic bomber," he said.

Russia's fifth-generation fighter, the T-50, successfully finished its maiden flight in the Far East late January. It is Russia's only known fifth-generation warplane project and is designed to rival the U.S.-made F-22 Raptor, so far the world's only fifth-generation fighter in active service.

The Tupolev aircraft maker said last year that a new-generation strategic bomber would be developed by 2017, while production should start in 2020 to 2025.