Further delays for modernisation of Russian Air Force Tu-160 bombers

The modernisation of 16 Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack' strategic bombers, which according to the long range plans of the Russian Air Force (VVS) should have been completed in 2017, may be delayed to 2019 or beyond.
At present there is still no finalised configuration as to what Soviet-era components will be replaced on these aircraft. Additionally, the manufacturer of the aircraft's Kuznetsov NK-32 engines is unable to come to an agreement with the United Aero-Engine Building Corporation (ODK) on the question of financing.
The testing of the design and prototype construction work is in its final phase,, but there are a number of components that still need to be replaced in these aircraft that are not available or are no longer in production. The specialists and engineers also state that a plan for the concrete details and schedule for the modernisation of these aircraft can only be determined by an agreement with the customer.
The recent flight of two Tu-160s to Venezuela were not any part of a flight test programme for new developed components] and that this was an ordinary flight.
The delays and problems plaguing this programme are not new. Just prior to the Moscow MAKS air show in August 2011, Russian news outlets stated that of the 16 Tu-160s still in VVS inventory only four were flightworthy. The main limiting factor is that most of the NK-32 engines had at that point reached the end of their service life. The Kuznetsov Design Bureau (OKB) that developed the engine and the KMPO production plant that built them during the Soviet period have not produced any new engines in more than a decade. The enterprises no longer have either adequate personnel or the machine-tooling to be able to manufacture them.
The company that inherited what was left of the Kuznetsov OKB and KMPO plants in the post-Soviet period has limited capability to conduct overhauls of the NK-32 engines for the Tu-160 fleet. The company was given a contract in 2011 to re-manufacture at least 26 of these engines, but was only able to overhaul four engines in two years.
Once the modernisation process begins the capacity of the overhaul plan allows for a throughput of only four to five aircraft per year and there must also be some minimal number of aircraft available as missile capable.
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