On April 17th, Ukrainian long-range drones struck the Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO), which is a manufacturer of strategic bombers such as the Tu-22M3 and Tu-160.
There is no information about the results of this attack, but regardless, the fact of Ukrainian UAV strikes on KAPO is significant.
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The aircraft factory in Kazan is located over 1000 kilometers from the border of Ukraine. Furthermore, KAPO is so crucial in the russian military defense industry that this facility was even used as a "decoration" for one of the propaganda events involving putin.
Over the past 2 years, only two Tu-160 strategic bombers have been modernized at KAPO, and another two aircraft of this type have been manufactured from Soviet-era blanks under the "reproduction" program.
Interestingly, these two new Tu-160s from old blanks were rolled out of the factory workshops as far back as 2022, but the customer, represented by the russian Ministry of Defense, has not yet accepted them. In March 2023, KAPO unveiled another modernized Tu-22M3M, rolled out from the factory workshops.
However, this was only the second bomber of this type in the last 5 years, and there is no other information available about work on Tu-22M3 aircraft at the facilities of the aviation plant in Kazan.
Interestingly, the russians announced rather ambitious plans for expanding production at the facilities of KAPO.
For example, in December 2023, it became known about the plan to equip almost all Tu-22M3 aircraft with an in-flight refueling probe, which allows for flights lasting several hours. At the same time, in December 2023, it became known that russia planned to produce 70 Tu-214 aircraft at the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 manufacturing plant, but the plan is not being implemented.
The reason for such a "setback" in plan execution is quite prosaic - the unsatisfactory condition of the production facilities of this aircraft plant.
Despite all these nuances, the aircraft plant in Kazan has strategic importance for the russian defense industry. The KAPO staff consists of 8,500 employees, making this enterprise one of the largest in russia, comparable perhaps only to Uralvagonzavod, which has 12,000 employees.
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