The Russian Tu-22 long-range bomber and missile carrier will remain a serious threat to the US Navy for at least the next 20 years.
This comes in the Proceedings of the US Marine Corps report, excerpts of which were published in the US electronic newspaper 19fortfive.
The newspaper said that anti-ship missiles carried by Russian aircraft will undergo development and modernization in the future. The Recoil (NATO designation for the Russian Tu-22) will acquire newer missiles, including the Tu-22 hypersonic stealth missiles, before ending its service with the Russian Aerospace Forces and being replaced by the promising Pak-Da stealth bomber.
The author of the report, Mark Schneider, said that the US Navy should develop technology for combat operations in the near future, considering the risk in question.
The Tu-22 was designed in the 1960s. It has been continuously updated since then. The latest version, “Tu-22M3”, has a flight range of 7000 km, a speed of Mach 2 (approximately 2500 km / h) and can carry 24 tons of cargo.
In Russia, this aircraft was called the “Carrier Killer”, because fighting aircraft carriers was one of its combat missions. For this purpose, the “Kha-22” is equipped with anti-ship missiles and has several versions, including nuclear. The Russian military command plans to equip it with hypersonic “Kinzal” (Dagger) missiles. This type can carry 6 hypersonic missiles. Last year, the Tu-22 was tested as a carrier aircraft “Dagger”
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Source: Arabic RT
