According to experts of the American magazine The National Interest, the Russian supersonic bomber with a variable swept wing of a Soviet-made Tu-22M3 is only a medium-sized aircraft, not a long-range one.
According to American experts, the aircraft is capable of holding a maximum of 50 tons of fuel, allowing it to move away from the airfield for a maximum of 3,000 km, including return. At the same time, the American B-1 Lancer can fly away from its base as much as 4,700 km and return without refueling.
In addition, with regard to refueling, in the US military is in service about 500 air tankers. While in Russia there are 18 such tankers of the IL-78 at the moment.
“One large raid of the Tu-22M3 over long distances can easily be demanded by the entire Kremlin tanker fleet,” writes The National Interest.
The publication concludes that even after upgrading the Tu-22M3 will not be able to hit targets in the middle of the Atlantic.
Recall that over the past four years, four major Tu-22M3 accidents have occurred. The victims of the last, which happened in January of this year, were three of the four crew members.
By the way, the upgraded version - Tu-22M3M was created as part of the state program. The Russian Ministry of Defense will decide on the launch of a large-scale aircraft upgrade program based on the results of state tests. In the case of successful tests to the level of Tu-22M3M, 30 Tu-22M3 will be upgraded.
