Back in the U. S. S. R.
The name of the aircraft, the Tu-22, alone can confuse a person who is not very interested in aviation. Giving similar indexes to different combat vehicles has generally become a "good tradition" of the domestic aircraft industry. Recall that the very first Tu-22 first took to the skies in 1958. It is difficult to call this plane successful. During operation, serious shortcomings of the aircraft appeared: at high supersonic speeds, due to air disturbances caused by unsuccessful placement of engines above the tail unit, the aircraft became difficult to control. For bringing the plane to mind, the pilots paid with their lives. The statistics speaks for themselves: out of 300 built cars, 70 were lost.
Built on the basis of invaluable experience, the Tu-22M aircraft is, in fact, a completely different machine, which, even from afar, is difficult to confuse with an earlier version. The bomber received a mid-wing variable sweep, air intakes on the sides of the fuselage and engines in the tail section (like the Tu-128 interceptor). The next important milestone in the development of the machine is the birth of the Tu-22M3 modification in the 70s. The aircraft, as we know, received more powerful and economical engines NK-25 with an electronic control system ECUD-25, as well as a number of other significant improvements, which mainly concerned avionics. The Kh-22 cruise missile and the Kh-15 aeroballistic missile, in principle, provided the aircraft with the ability to hit ground / sea targets without entering the air defense zone. However, even during the Cold War, an attack by an American carrier strike group was, one might say, a "one-way ticket." US carrier-based aircraft, which had F-14 interceptors at their disposal, would hardly have allowed Soviet aircraft to return. On the other hand, in the event of a large-scale conflict between the USA and the USSR, this would still not matter much: there would be nowhere to go back to.
Aircraft resurrection
As of 2017, Russia had approximately 60 Tu-22M3 bombers. After the collapse of the USSR, some of the aircraft remained on the territory of Ukraine and Belarus, but then these countries refused to operate these machines. It is quite obvious that the aircraft developed in the 70s is almost hopelessly outdated, which is obvious, first of all, when considering its avionics. Back in the 80s, they wanted to upgrade the car to the level of the Tu-22M4, but in the early 90s the work was curtailed.
In the 2000s, a very strange idea appeared to replace the Tu-22M3 with the Su-34 front-line bombers, which were just beginning to enter the troops. The absurdity of the concept becomes obvious if we compare the combat radius and load of the winged vehicles. The Su-34 is a quite worthy alternative to the Su-24M, but it will not work to make a long-range bomber out of it, just as it will not work to make one from the Su-35S or Su-30SM, which use the same basis as the Su-34.
A more realistic alternative is the PAK DA, which is now seen as both a bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft, and even partially as a heavy fighter (it is assumed that it will carry air-to-air missiles). However, the future "invisible" runs the risk of becoming long-term construction, because, in fact, it is the most complex combat aviation complex in the entire history of the USSR / Russia. And also potentially the most expensive. Therefore, the announced date of the first flight (previously indicated the mid-2020s) can be called “optimistic”. A way out of the situation is seen in the modernization of Tu-160 to the level of Tu-160M2, Tu-95MS to the level of Tu-95MSM and Tu-22M3 to the level of Tu-22M3M.
Economy and economy
The United States has shown how, ideally, the modernization of old bombers should be carried out. Their B-52H and B-1B received, in particular, the latest Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod sighting systems, as well as the ability to use "smart" and relatively inexpensive bombs using JDAM kits. The modernization itself was not cheap, but the planes were able to successfully retrain from doomsday weapons to fighters against terror. Well, or with any enemy of the United States from among the third world countries that do not have serious air defense.
Apparently, the Tu-22M3M cannot boast of such capabilities, although its main purpose lies in a slightly different plane. The use of an aircraft as a carrier of conventional unguided bombs can be considered an anachronism. The effect achieved as a result of this will be small, but the chances of losing an aircraft increase significantly if we draw an analogy with launching missiles from a zone outside the range of enemy air defense. In this regard, the loss of the Tu-22M3 bomber during the armed conflict in South Ossetia on August 10, 2008 is indicative.
Therefore, as we have already noted, the main task for the Tu-22M3M is the fight against aircraft carrier strike groups and the destruction of especially important targets on the ground using cruise missiles. To do this, the vehicle was equipped with a new armament system, including modern communications and navigation, modern electronic warfare and high-precision cruise missiles of the X-32 class with a launch range of up to 1000 km and a speed of 4-5, 4 thousand kilometers per hour. The missile itself can be regarded as the main, most important innovation of the Tu-22M3M. Alas, the new "long arm" of the bomber can hardly be considered "new" in the usual sense of the word. In fact, we have before us a modernized version of the Kh-22 rocket, which was developed back in the 60s. The samples demonstrated during the tests have no signs of a decrease in radar signature, which, of course, reduces the chances of hitting a target in conditions of intense anti-air defense. But other new Russian missiles - the Kh-101 and Kh-59MK2 - have quite noticeable signs of stealth technology, although it is difficult to say how much this helps in practice.
Another weapon option for the Tu-22M3M is the use of the Dagger aeroballistic missile, which is also sometimes called a “hypersonic missile”. The range of use of this product as part of a bomber-bomber is estimated at three thousand kilometers, which, of course, is a solid indicator. On the other hand, statements about the revolutionary nature of the development itself are far from reality. Conceptually, the "Dagger" is closer to the Soviet X-15 than to the promising hypersonic Boeing X-51, which has a ramjet hypersonic jet engine, which allows it to maintain a tremendous speed throughout the entire flight phase (which, however, does not solve the problems with guiding the missile on a hypersonic speed).
Of the conventionally positive aspects - the unification of the Tu-22M3M avionics with similar systems of the Tu-160M strategic missile carrier. Taking into account the tendencies that we see in the RF Air Force (recently again they started talking about the purchase of MiG-35s in addition to the most different "Sushki") any unification is good, although the West will hardly be able to achieve the level of developed countries here either: apparently such a task did not even put it.
In general, the Tu-22M3M modification well reflects the economical approach to new weapons characteristic of modern Russia. The bomber is a kind of winged "twin" of the main battle tank T-72B3, which also became a compromise in terms of price / quality ratio. In total, by 2020, it is planned to upgrade at the Kazan Aviation Plant up to 30 Tu-22M3 to a new level. By analogy with the Su-27SM fighter, it can be assumed that in the future, the rest of the machines will also be upgraded. And in the foreseeable future, there may appear some kind of Tu-22M3M2 or Tu-22M3M3, designed, among other things, for "Daggers" or new guided bombs.
