Tu-22M aircraft (NATO classification: Backfire) is a supersonic long-range missile-carrying bomber with variable wing geometry. The prototype Tu-22M3 performed its maiden flight on June 20, 1977. After the end of the program for flight development tests of the aircraft, the Tu-22M3 aircraft was put into serial production since 1978. At the same time, from 1981 to 1984, the missile carrier underwent a series of additional tests in a variant with enhanced combat capabilities of the vehicle, in particular, the use of X-15 missiles was practiced on the plane. In the final version, the Tu-22M3 bomber-bomber was adopted by the USSR Air Force in March 1989. For all the years of production at the Kazan Aviation Production Association, 268 Tu-22M3 bombers were assembled.
In February 2012, official information appeared that the Russian Ministry of Defense had signed a contract for the modernization of about 30 Tu-22M3 bombers to the Tu-22M3M version. In this version, the bomber should receive completely new electronic equipment and the possibility of using modern high-precision air-to-surface weapons, for example, the new Kh-32 cruise missiles. In total, at the moment, out of 115 Tu-22M3s in Russia, about 40 vehicles are fully operational. The modernization of 30 bombers is planned to be carried out by 2020. For 2012, 1 aircraft of this type was re-equipped, which is currently undergoing a set of tests.
In 2012, the Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel of Russian Long-Range Aviation, located in the city of Ryazan, began training courses for young pilots - graduates of 2011. In these courses, they could master not only theoretical questions, but also practice piloting skills on simulators, as well as make real flights on Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3M bombers. Here, at the Ryazan Aviation Center, the flight crew is training piloting and operating the new modernized Tu-22M3M bomber. This vehicle differs from the Tu-22M3 in the expanded range of enemy weapons used. This aircraft uses modern equipment built on a new element base, while at the same time, the ergonomics of the cockpit have been improved.
Currently, the cost of aircraft and aircraft weapons is growing at an avalanche rate, which leads military aviation to almost a dead end. So, for example, in 2010 prices one fighter of the 5th generation F-22 cost the US budget 412.7 million dollars, the "mass" model - the F-35 cost only 115.7 million dollars, and the price The "obscenely cheap" fighter Eurofighter was only about 85 million euros. Against this background, the "classic" F-18E, which cost the customer $ 50 million, seems quite a "budget" solution. The cost of Russian promising developments has not yet been disclosed, but it is unlikely that it will differ significantly from the costs of our potential "friends".
Prices for aircraft weapons, especially precision weapons, are also growing at a no less rapid pace. So at present in the West, the emphasis is on the use of guided weapons. Only now, the JDAM module, which is able to turn an ordinary bomb into a high-precision one, even in its cheapest configuration costs the Western taxpayer about $ 30,000, while the prices for specially developed guided and guided ammunition reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, in all major conflicts of recent years (Operation Desert Storm, the bombing of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, to a much lesser extent Afghanistan), from a certain point, a shortage of high-precision weapons began to be observed, which was due to the inability to timely replenish the costs of high-precision missile systems and KAB.
A way out was found in reducing the cost of aviation equipment, as well as on-board systems, together with a revision of the very concept of using aviation weapons. A big mind is not required to come to such conclusions, the mind is needed in order to practically implement this approach, since this task in modern realities seems almost fantastic. However, in Russia there are already developments in this direction. An example is the Su-24M2 aircraft equipped with the SVP-24 avionics and modernized by the company Gefest and T.
In 2012, the SVP-24-22 airborne and ground equipment complex was planned to be installed on 4 Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic missile-carrying bomber. The general director of the company "Gefest and T" Alexander Panin told about this in an interview with ITAR-TASS journalists. This enterprise is the creator of the modification of the SVP-24 complex, which has already been successfully used to modernize the Russian Su-24 front-line bombers.
At the same time, it is emphasized that the installation of SVP-24-22 systems is provided for by a separate program and will be carried out regardless of plans for deep modernization, which is subject to 30 Tu-22M3 missile carriers. The new SVP-24-22 complex makes it possible to more effectively solve combat and navigation tasks, as well as to improve the accuracy characteristics of aviation destruction systems. In addition, the complex provides an accurate approach of a combat aircraft for landing in adverse weather conditions and without ground course-glide systems. At the same time, the SVP-24 avionics system is universal and can be installed on many types of aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Air Force, including Tu-22M3, Su-24M bombers or Ka-52 attack helicopters. Another indisputable advantage of this system is the fact that this system can reduce the time for ground preparation and control of the aircraft by 4-5 times. For Tu-22M3, one flight hour of which requires 51 man-hours of engineering support, this is quite important.
According to the Izvestia newspaper, the Tu-22M3 can make a real killer of the European missile defense system, turning an aging strategic missile carrier into a carrier of high-precision weapons. For this, the aircraft will be equipped with new electronics, and, most likely, a new Kh-32 cruise missile. The new machine will receive another letter M to its name and will be called Tu-22M3, while specialists from one of the enterprises involved in the modernization emphasized that Tu-22 and Tu-22M, as well as Tu-22M3 and Tu-22M3M, will completely different machines, primarily in their capabilities. According to representatives of the country's Air Force, in order to prepare pilots to fly the new aircraft, it will take 2-3 months of training at the Ryazan Long-Range Aviation Training Center.
At the same time, the retraining process is standardized, pilots will need to study electronic devices, master a new navigation and weapon control system, and control the situation near the aircraft. From now on, all important information will be displayed on liquid crystal electronic displays, and the pilot will only have to choose a mode, a target and launch missiles, almost like in computer games.
Konstantin Sivkov, Doctor of Military Sciences and First Vice President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, noted that this modernization involves a complete replacement of the navigation, weapons control and communications system and will cost from 30% to 50% of the aircraft's cost. At the same time, the modernization of 30 aircraft to the Tu-22M3M version will improve the combat capabilities of the Tu-22M3 fleet by 20%. According to him, the modernization of only 30 aircraft will be enough to disable one American aircraft carrier, while sinking a number of escort ships. While the modernization of the entire fleet of Tu-22M3 missile carriers would increase their efficiency by 100-120% for sea targets and 2-3 times when operating against land targets.
Sivkov suggested that the new Kh-32 cruise missile would search for targets "from under the wing" of the bomber, like its predecessor, the Kh-22. After launch, the rocket will be able to reach a target several hundred kilometers away on its own engine and hit it, while it is extremely difficult to detect and hit such a rocket.
In turn, Alexander Konovalov, president of the Institute for Strategic Assessments and Analysis, noted that the defeat of ground targets today is one of the weakest points of the Russian army. Since modern Russian tactical missiles have a short range and rather low accuracy. In Georgia, the Tu-22M3 bomber was lost for this very reason, the plane had to enter the enemy's organized air defense zone in order to carry out the target attack. And getting out of this zone after the attack is already very difficult, said Konovalov.
According to Konovalov, in order for a cruise missile to be able to hit a ground object at a distance of several hundred kilometers, it must have its exact coordinates and fly, constantly clarifying its position in space with the help of a satellite, or someone will constantly have to highlight the target to be hit, and the rocket will fly according to the reflected signal. At the same time, there is a third way - a correlation system, in which a detailed route map with an image of the target to be destroyed will be loaded into the rocket's memory, and the rocket will take pictures of the terrain it is flying over during the flight, checking the received data with the route map. Such a system can be obtained by the Russian Air Force in the person of the Tu-22M3M and the Kh-32 cruise missile.
