After the loss of another Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber on August 15 in Irkutsk Oblast, the question arises: how many of these aircraft are produced in russia per year and how many are left.
The reason of the aircraft losses is not only the accidents, but also the result of successful actions by the Defense Forces of Ukraine:
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- one was shot down by S-200 SAM system on April 19, 2024;
- two were damaged by long-range drones at the Olenya air base on July 25, 2024;
- one was destroyed and two were damaged at the Soltsy air base as a result of a drone attack on August 19, 2023;
- three were damaged at Dyagilevo air base as a result of a long-range drone attack on December 5, 2022.
It should also be noted that there is no certainty that these aircraft will be repaired and will not become an irreversible loss.
It should be mentioned that the russian federation does not produce Tu-22M aircraft in any variant at all, as the last Tu-22M3 was produced in 1993. The only reserve that russia started using, is up to six aircraft that have been standing outdoors for about 30 years. In addition, the russian federation may try to restore bombers that have already been decommissioned.
The main problem for russians is that they no longer produce NK-25 turbofan aircraft engines for Tu-22M3. They were produced until 1996. It means that all the possibilities to restore additional aircraft face this problem.
That is why russians wanted to install the NK-32 that belongs to Tu-160 strategic heavy bomber on the modernized Tu-22M3M. The engines' production in the NK-32-02 version was resumed in 2016. But these engines are needed to modernize and even attempt to resume production of the Tu-160M aircraft.
There is no information about the installation of these engines in the Tu-22M3M. Moreover, this modernization, which is to upgrade 80% of all onboard electronic equipment, expand the range of weapons and add an aerial refueling boom, is designed to extend the vehicles' service life by only about 10 years.
At the same time, the deadlines for modernization have already been completely missed, and only two Tu-22M3Ms are known to be modernized. One of them was ready in 2018.
Therefore, each loss of Tu-22M3 for russia is more than significant. New aircraft are not produced, and all that russians have is the remnants from Soviet era. At the same time, there is no replacement for these aircraft, although there is only an approved outline, after 12 years of talk about its uniqueness.
According to the Military Balance, the russian Aerospace Forceshave about 57 Tu-22M3s as of mid-2023. They are operated by the 200th, 52nd Heavy and 40th Mixed Aviation Regiments at Belaya, Shaykovka and Olenya air bases.
In addition, it is extremely important that the russian federation wanted to send only up to 30 aircraft for modernization to the Tu-22M3M variant. So this figure that can be considered a benchmark.
Taking into account this figure, we can subtract at least two aircraft and some damaged ones. But in reality, there are many more, because not all russian Tu-22M3s are in good condition. In particular, the use of these aircraft, which was quite active in 2022, has now been reduced to only a few episodes.
Earlier Defense Express reported that russians had wanted to create an attack srone out of Tu-141 Strizh.
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