A satellite image has become publicly available, showing that the so-called "Aerospace Forces" of the russian federation concentrated Tu-22M3 strategic bombers at the Engels Air Base for the first time during the full-scale war against Ukraine. Currently five Tu-22M3 aircraft, which are carriers of Kh-22 missiles are concentrated there.
In addition, as of July 28, four Tu-95MS and three Tu-160 bombers are also concentrated at the Engels Air Base. It should be noted, that this aircraft group has been stationed at this airfield for a long time.
Read more: The russians Carried Out a Combined Attack, Using Drones Along with Kh-22, Onyx and Kh-59 Missiles
In addition, in June 2023, the russians redeployed two MiG-31 aircraft to this airfield too. However, at the moment it is not known which modification these aircraft are – whether MiG-31K (the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile's carrier) or MiG-31BM (supersonic interceptor aircraft). The image was released by OSINT analyst MT_Anderson on his Twitter.
It can be assumed that the russians relocated five Tu-22M3 bombers to the Engels airfield as part of measures to increase the survivability of their strategic aviation - in order to protect their scarce bombers from possible strikes from Ukraine. As it turned out, there are currently only about 40 aircraft of this type left in the ranks of the russian Aerospace Forces, although there are 60 such bombers "on paper".
But it seems more realistic that the russian Armed Forces plan to use the Engels airfield in the near future as another base for strikes on Ukraine by Tu-22M3 missile carriers.
In particular, the distance from the Engels air base to the border with Ukraine is about 700 km, while the declared combat radius for the Tu-22M3 bombers with a load of 12 tons (that is, two X-22 missiles) is about 1,500 km in flight at supersonic speed mode as well as up to 2400 km - when flying at subsonic speed mode.
Therefore, it can be stated that the combat radius of the Tu-22M3 bomber can be quite sufficient to use the Engels air base as another base for launching massive missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine.
We will remind that earlier Defense Express reported that the russian federation carried out a large-scale modernization of Kh-22 missiles with conversion into Kh-32, and detailed the features of such an updated cruise missiles.
Read more: What are the Kh-32 Missiles Recently Used by russians to Attack Ukrainian Infrastructure
