Russia’s upgraded Tu-22M3 strategic missile-carrying bomber performs debut flight

Russia’s latest modernized Tupolev Tu-22M3M long-range missile-carrying bomber has performed its debut flight.
The first upgraded Tu-22M3M made the debut flight from the airfield of the Kazan-based Gorbunov Aircraft Enterprise.
This flight started the missile-carrying bomber’s flight tests. There were no weapons aboard the aircraft and the flight was brief.
The Tu-22M3M was rolled out by the Gorbunov Aircraft Enterprise on August 16.
Until now, the bomber was undergoing a series of ground-based tests, during which specialists were checking its new onboard radio-electronic equipment, carrying out the ground-based engine runs and testing compatibility of the aircraft’s artificial intelligence elements.
Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation earlier said that the upgrade of operational Tu-22M3 planes to the level of the Tu-22M3M would begin from 2019 and the first serial-produced bombers would start arriving for the troops from 2021.
According to the data of the Tupolev Aircraft Company, the Tu-22M3M features considerably greater combat potential, including the enlarged operating range.
tass