I shamelessly clipped this from 2 different sources, from "Aviation News" and also from "Global Security". Both had slightly different articles on the plane. It looks similar to our B-2 Spirit so I wonder how well it compares to the Northrop "Wing", Also the Russian are having problems right now in the Ukraine, but I wonder if this is a "Hero" project and Putin is putting his prestige behind this bomber after the drubbing the Ukrainians are giving him. Also the Russians are trying to develop their own aerospace industry despite the sanctions from the west, and a lot of their avionics and computers will have to be "homebuilt" and that can be problematic for them because quality control has always been an issue on certain things. I also wonder if this is Russian propaganda.
PAK DA [also known as Produkt 80 / "Product 80" or Poslannik / "Courier"] is the Russian strategic bomber of new generation produced by "Tupolev". Research and development work on the bomber began in 2009. PAK DA will be subsonic flight speed, aircraft guns will be placed inside his body. The design of the car will be the most widely used radar absorbing materials ( "stealth" technology).
Ruslan PUKHOV, member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), noted in a July 05, 2018 interview with the weekly Zvezda and the Army Standard magazine that under GPV-2020 [State Arms Program for 2018–2027] "The program for creating a promising new generation of strategic Russian bomber (PAK DA) in general, apparently, “departed” for 2030–2035. In view of this, in the next decade, the replenishment of the fleet of VKS and aviation of the Russian Navy will have to continue due to the production of modernized fourth-generation aircraft - Su-30SM, Su-34, Su-35, Tu-160M2 bombers."
In 2015 the decision was announced to resume the production of Tupolev-160 bomber (its upgraded configuration Tupolev-160M2) and to postpone the development of a new generation bomber till a later date. The Defense Ministry said the construction of Tupolev-160M2 would begin in 2023. The Aerospace Force planned to acquire at least 50 such aircraft.
As of February 2017 it was reported that the new bomber was expected to make its first flight sometime before 2021, with the first deliveries starting in 2023. "It is impossible to build a missile-carrying bomber invisible to radars and supersonic at the same time. This is why focus is placed on stealth capabilities. The PAK DA will carry AI-guided missiles with a range of up to 7,000 km. Such a missile can analyze the aerial and radio-radar situation and determine its direction, altitude and speed. We’re already working on such missiles," Bondarev was quoted as saying by the Russian newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta 24 February 2017.
The major design works on developing the advanced PAK DA strategic bomber are due to start after 2021, the commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, Victor Bondarev, said on 12 August 2015. "Currently, the design work on developing the PAK DA advanced long range aviation complex is being conducted by the Tupolev company under the contract with the Russian Defense Ministry," Bondarev said, adding that the major works will be implemented after 2021. The new strategic bomber was earlier expected to perform its maiden flight in 2019 and become operational in the Russian Air Force approximately in 2023-2025. Its development has been postponed amid plans to resume series production of a Tu-160M2 bomber in 2023.
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces Viktor Bondarev said that the main stages of the experimental design efforts for the PAK DA creation would begin after 2021. However, he said on January 2016 that the advanced strategic long-range aircraft’s prototype may take its maiden flight before 2021. He said the PAK DA creation works are underway and their progress rates were satisfactory. There is a task to conduct the (PAK DA`s) first flight in 2021. If the reached progress rates are maintained, the bomber will take the flight before the targeted time, Bondarev added.
It was earlier planned that the PAK DA bomber would start to be delivered to the Russian army in 2023-2025, and the first tests flights were planned for 2019-2020. It became known later that the creation of Russia’s new strategic bomber would be delayed because of the plans to resume serial production of Tu-160M2 that is planned to be started in 2023.
The Russian Air Force would start receiving its first PAK DA next generation long-range bomber in 2023, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said 22 May 2014. Earlier reports said PAK DA bombers could be supplied to the Russian Air Force approximately by 2020. “The maiden flight should be performed in 2019. State tests and supplies will be completed in 2023,” Bondarev said. The head of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Mikhail Pogosyan, told reporters earlier that the full-fledged construction work would start in 2014.
While the US for many years had the only operational stealth aircraft, as of 2000 Russia was reportedly designing a stealth bomber. Russia announced plans in 2009 to develop a new strategic bomber featuring stealth technology by 2025. The new bomber is expected to replace the Tu-95MC Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, and Tu-22M3 Backfire long-range bombers currently in service with Russia’s strategic aviation. As of 2012 Russia’s strategic air forces operated a total of 63 Tu-95MS and 13 Tu-160 bombers. Altogether, they were capable of carrying 850 long-range cruise missiles.
In December 2009 Russian aircraft maker Tupolev said a new-generation Tu strategic bomber would be developed by 2017. Company President Alexander Bobryshev told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the research on the new aircraft project should be completed by 2012, while production-line assembly should start in 2020 to 2025. However, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, commander of Russia's strategic aviation said a new strategic bomber, which would use stealth technology, was expected to enter service in 2025-2030. He said the stealth technology would make "the new aircraft difficult to detect by radar, although it is impossible to make airplanes of this type completely invisible."
Russia's Long Range Aviation commander, Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, had said the Air Force could receive the new strategic bomber in 2025. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said that a new aircraft assembly line in Russia's Kazan plant (KAPO) would build PAK DA [Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Dalney Aviatsyi - Prospective Air Complex for Long Range Aviation.] and the new Antonov An-70 propfan transport aircraft. The same plant previously built the Tu-95MS and Tu-160.
In May 2012, Russia Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin called on Russia's defense industry to develop hypersonic air-breathing weapons as a future strike system. He picked out American development work in the X-51, Falcon, HiFire and HyFly programs as examples of what he described as the perspective threat posed by U.S. hypersonic development work. "The undertaking of this work allows us to lay the basis for creation of a national competitor in hypersonic weapons," he said. Development of such a weapon should be discussed at the highest levels of state, he said. Rogozin, who has special responsibility for the military-industrial complex, insisted Russia has no need to develop a new long-range bomber to replace its existing fleet.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin suggested that with the current and future air and missile defense systems in place, strategic bombers were no longer relevant. “Look at the current level of air defense and anti-missile defense – these aircraft will not get anywhere. Not ours, not theirs,” Rogozin, who oversees defense industry and will soon assume full control over financing of R&D for military purposes, said in an interview with Izvestia. He added that strategic bombers could not be viewed as means of delivering nuclear strikes on enemy territory anymore.
On 09 June 2012 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reiterated plans to develop a new, fifth-generation strategic bomber. “Alongside a fifth-generation fighter there are also plans to develop an advanced long-range aviation complex. I am talking about a new strategic bomber,” he said. Maintenance and modernization of the existing strategic bombers is not enough, he added. His remarks come days after a senior cabinet member questioned the need for a new bomber.
Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov told Izvestia in early June 2012 that the new bomber project was underway as planned. “We have made some progress in the development of the new bomber,” Makarov said. “If we reach production phase, this plane will outperform any modern aircraft of the same class, including those built by the Americans.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered development of the new long-range strategic bomber to be sped up in mid-June 2012. Speaking during a conference on defense orders, Putin said: "We have to develop work on the new PAK DA long-range bomber aircraft for Long-Range Aviation. I know how expensive and complex this is. The task is not easy from a scientific-technical standpoint, but we need to start work," Putin said, adding that otherwise, Russia could miss the boat.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said he was in favor of development of the PAK DA long-range bomber for the country's air force, just hours after saying the project was unnecessary, in apparent contravention of President Putin's call last week for domestic aerospace industry to develop just such an aircraft. “I am for PAK DA but it should not be a copy of the B-2. We need to look at the horizon and develop hypersonic long-range aviation, civil and military,” Rogozin said
The outline for a design of the Russian Air Force's future strategic bomber, known as PAK-DA, has been worked out, Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said in June 2012. "The outline of this aircraft is already formed, and the technical and tactical characteristics are being set out," Bondarev said. "I think we have the resources and funding to make the plane on time, so it is ready when we need it as a replacement or addition to our Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers," he added.
The Russian Air Force may receive its first PAK DA next generation long-range bomber about 2020 instead of 2025 as initially planned, Russia’s acting deputy Air Force commander, Major General Alexander Chernyayev, said in late June 2012. “I think the first models of the Prospective Air Complex for Long Range Aviation (PAK DA) will be supplied to the Air Force approximately by 2020,” Chernyayev said in an interview published on the Russian Defense Ministry website. Chernyayev also said in his interview the Russian Air Force was planning to modernize its Tu-95MS, Tu-160 and Tu-22MS bombers, as well as Ilyushin Il-78 Midas air-to-air refueling tanker aircraft.
The general look of the new strategic bomber has already been worked out, and engineers are currently finishing work on aircraft specific operational requirements, Chernyayev said. “We have everything today to develop the plane on time and put it into operation together with [Tupolev] Tu-95MS Bear, Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-22M3 Backfire [strategic bombers], which have proven their high reliability,” he added.
Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who had responsibility for military-industrial affairs, and the Armed Force’s General Staff, disagreed over the need for a new “traditional” strategic bomber. Rogozin said on his blog in June 2012 that it would be undesirable for Russia to "go down the American route," and produce a bomber like the Northrop B-2, and repeated his earlier calls for a hypersonic air vehicle system instead of a traditional long-range bomber. In earlier comments, Rogozin had appeared to dismiss the need for PAK-DA, saying long-range bombers would fall victim to air defense systems long before reaching their targets.
The Russian Air Force has approved the conceptual design and specification of its future PAK-DA strategic bomber, paving the way for development of components for the aircraft, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said 11 April 2013. “The development of the aircraft is going as planned. The outline of its design and characteristics has been approved and all relevant documents have been signed allowing the industry to start the development of systems for this plane,” Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers.
The Russian Air Force has tactical and technical requirements for a new generation of strategic bombers, as reported by Interfax. According to some sources, the PAK DA would be based on the supersonic Tu-160 bomber. Later references to the new bomber, including a televised address from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seem to imply the aircraft will be an entirely new design. Some speculation suggests that it might follow the stealthy design of the America B-2 Spirit bomber, but there is little public evidence to support that.
The first full-size model of Russia’s future long-range bomber PAK DA, being developed for the Aerospace Force, has been created by the Tupolev company, a source in Russia’s defense-industrial complex told TASS 01 March 2017. "Several scale mock-ups of the PAK DA bomber have been made of composite materials. Also, there is a full-size mock-up made of wood. All models are based on the flying wing concept," the source said.
Its airframe will be made of radar-absorbent material. All weapons will be placed inside the fuselage. PAK DA will receive the NK-32 engine from the Tu-160, which has been upgraded beyond recognition. Although, what is the extra cost of R&D, if the unit is actually very technological and meets all modern requirements. It is planned that the maximum thrust will remain at the same level - about 24,000 - 25,000 kgf. "Also, PAK DA is to be equipped with the latest radioelectronic warfare equipment of domestic manufacture, unparalleled in terms of effectiveness," the source said. Another source in the Russian defense industry said the first test sample of a future bomber will perform its first flight by 2025. The plane will have a subsonic speed.
Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said earlier the PAK DA bomber may be presented to the public at large in 2018. Its parameters will exceed by far those of the existing bombers. The original plan was the first bombers would be delivered in 2023-2025, while the test flights were to be carried out in 2019-2020. Later, it was announced that the bomber’s creation was postponed in favor of resuming the serial production of the Tupolev-160 bomber.
The first prototype of the Russian PAK DA (PAK DA) is to be established in the early 2020s, a contract has been signed. This was reported 13 April 2017 by TASS source in the military-industrial complex. He said that the first stage of development work on a new strategic bomber was completed in 2016. "Now move on to the second stage:.. To develop a working design documentation and then - production of prototypes sample contract for works on this stage signed the military with the United Aircraft Corporation The first prototype is expected to make in the early 2020s", - said the source. The source said that the aircraft will be made under the scheme flying wing, which, he said, "other schemes are not considered or discussed, this option only was approved."
Initially it was assumed that the aircraft will enter the army in the years 2023-2025, the first test flight is scheduled for 2019-2020 years. Later it became known that the creation of the bomber is shifted due to the resumption of serial production of Tu-160. The first flight of the prototype PAK DA is planned for 2025.
Proposed long-range next generation plane being developed by the Tupolev design bureau will have a variety of functions. It will be configured as a bomber, command center or reconnaissance plane, as follows from memos compiled for a July 2018 meeting of the council for legislative support for the defense-industrial complex and military-technical cooperation under the Federation Council. "Next generation front-line aviation planes (Sukhoi-57) are being created for addressing a wide range of tasks. So are airborne command centers at the strategic and operative levels and reconnaissance and strategic aviation planes (PAK DA)," the memos sid.
The head of the Federation Council’s defense and security committee Viktor Bondarev said that research and development was nearing completion on a next generation long-range multifunctional plane that will replace Tupolev-22M3, Tupolev-95MS and eventually Tupolev-160. PAK DA is slated to enter duty in 2025-2030 after testing. Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said that a new strategic bomber might be presented to the public in 2018. PAK DA, he said, may make the first flight in 2025-2026 and begin to be batch-produced in 2028 or 2029.
In December 2019, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Alexei Krivoruchko in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper said that the preliminary design of the PAK DA aircraft had been approved and Tupolev PJSC (as part of the United Aircraft Corporation) had begun to develop working design documentation.
As of early 2020 the first flight was planned for 2025. It had been planned that this would happen in 2020, but the return to production of the Tu-160 delayed the creation of a new bomber. In May 2020, TASS sources reported that the production of the first prototype of the new "strategist" had begun. The final assembly will be carried out at the Kazan Aviation Plant. S.P. Gorbunova.
Russia has begun construction of the first prototype strategic stealth bomber as part of the Advanced Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation (PAK DA, product 80). This was reported 26 May 2020 by TASS two sources in the military-industrial complex. "One of the aircraft factories in the structure of the United Aircraft Corporation will be engaged in the manufacture of glider elements of the first machine, the development of detailed design documentation has been completed, and the supply of materials has begun," the source said. As another TASS source specified, the aircraft cockpit is already being manufactured. "The final assembly of the entire machine should be completed in 2021," he said.
A demonstration model of a promising long-range aviation complex (PAK DA) is expected to be assembled by 2023. This was reported to TASS 02 August 2021 by a source in the aircraft industry. "At present, a prototype is being manufactured. It is assumed that the demonstration model will be ready by 2023," the source said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, subsequent sanctions by the West and embargoes on the supply of aerospace components do not appear to have deterred Moscow from development of its next-generation strategic bomber, the Tupolev PAK DA. In fact, the first flight of a prototype aircraft may come in 2024.
In May, an extremely interesting table showing the production plans of the Ilyushin Aviation Complex for 2022-30 could be found on the internet for just a few days. The numbers for civil aircraft in the table indicated the data was fresh, produced after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and under current economic conditions.
The Ilyushin Aviation Complex is an executive body for the Beriev Aircraft Co., which deals with special-purpose aircraft, including making parts for Russia’s answer to the U.S. Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, the PAK DA bomber. According to the leaked table, Beriev is to make six sets of aggregate parts for test PAK DA aircraft by 2030: two each in 2023 and 2024, and one each in 2025 and 2026.
From other sources it is known that three flying test aircraft are planned to be built. Final assembly of the PAK DA bombers is set to be done by the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant, a branch of the Tupolev Co.
The presence of the PAK DA in the leaked document means that the new wartime reality has not changed Russian plans—Moscow has no intention of abandoning this project.
Work on the new Russian strategic bomber has been launched and stopped several times, and for a long time it did not progress beyond projects on paper.
The current PAK DA program was launched in 2007 with the announcement of a design competition among Myasishchev, Sukhoi and Tupolev. Russia chose Tupolev, which won a three-year contract in August 2009 for research work code-named Poslannik, under which the company developed the conceptual design of the Product 80 aircraft. The Tu-160 Blackjack is Product 70. The project was approved by the Russian Defense Ministry in the spring of 2013.
In the next stage, on Dec. 27, 2013, the defense ministry contracted the preliminary technical design of the PAK DA. In May 2014, Viktor Bondarev, then-commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, announced that the first flight of the PAK DA prototype would take place in 2019. “In 2023, state acceptance tests will be completed and supplies for the military will begin,” he added.
The program was revised in 2014, when, after the annexation of Crimea, Russia was subject to Western sanctions, and world oil prices dropped significantly. At that time, Russia changed its priorities and resumed production of the modernized Tu-160M, judging that program less expensive. The main efforts of the Tupolev design bureau and the Kazan production plant, as well as financial resources, were thrown into modernizing and resuming production of the Tu-160M. Meanwhile, the PAK DA program slowed down.
The Russians returned to the PAK DA at the end of 2017. On Dec. 27, 2017, Tupolev won a defense ministry contract for Poslannik-1 research and development work, including completion of the design of the Product 80 aircraft and construction and trials of several test aircraft.
According to this contract, the aircraft was to complete acceptance tests by the end of August 2027. The day before the contract award, on Dec. 26, 2017, Tupolev also received a contract from Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry for the “Tekhnologiya-80” program covering the development of basic technologies including the engine and preparation of serial production of the aircraft.
What Is Known
Quite unusually for a Russian military project of such importance, the basic characteristics of the PAK DA are not secret. Long-Range Aviation Commander Anatoly Zhikharev said in August 2014 that the PAK DA would be a subsonic flying wing capable of reaching a distance of 15,000 km (9,300 mi.) without refueling. According to a less official but still trustworthy Russian source, the Product 80 bomber is planned to weigh 145 metric tons at takeoff and is supposed to be able to carry up to 30 tons of weapons. Thus, the PAK DA is almost half the weight of the Tu-160 (275 tons) and is situated between the 124-ton Tu-22M3 and 185-ton Tu-95MS.
This March, Tupolev released a patent for an engine air intake of an aircraft resembling the PAK DA. Of course, the drawing attached to the patent does not need to show the exact bomber under construction. The PAK DA wing likely has a constant leading-edge angle, without the kink, as shown in the patent drawing.
After the main contract was awarded, subcontractors responsible for individual PAK DA systems were selected—approximately 100 lower-tier contracts in total. Most are traditional Tupolev partners. The Russians are trying to make the PAK DA a low-risk program, and the use of revolutionary technologies in the bomber should not be expected. Years ago, when resuming production of the Tu-160, then-Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that “the maximum number of technological operations will be common” for the Tu-160M and PAK DA. Some of the subsystems and weapons are common to both aircraft.
The PAK DA is slated to be powered by two turbofan engines supplied by the United Engine Corp. (UEC) Kuznetsov. The engines appear to be an upgraded version of the NK-32 used in the Tu-160. Indeed, the new engine is planned to be based on the core (hot section) of the NK-32-02 engine of the Tu-160M and is supposed to provide a maximum thrust of 23 tons (the legacy NK-32 engine has a thrust of 14 tons dry and 25 tons with afterburner). The TA18-200-80 auxiliary power unit for the PAK DA is made by Aerosila.
Notably, the engine program is also code-named MD-80, or “cruise engine for the aircraft 80.” This formulation suggests that the aircraft may also use other engines. Indeed, another document includes information about a SD1C takeoff engine intended for the PAK DA; it is a solid-propellant type probably used for rocket-assisted launch.
An integrated avionics system is being designed by Ramenskoye RPKB. The radar system is being developed by the Tikhomirov NIIP Institute—that is unusual, as TsNPO Leninets supplies the radars for other Tupolev bombers. The PAK DA will receive an active, electronically scanned array radar based on the one used by the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter. The bomber will also have an optoelectronic sight from an unknown manufacturer.
MNPK Avionika is building the KSU-80 flight control system. The NO-80 navigation suite is designed by Moscow’s MIEA Institute. The K36L-80 ejection seats and crew life-support system are being developed by the NPP Zvezda Co. Traditionally, Russian bomber crews are large: the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 have a crew of four, as does the Tu-95MS—though at times the crew is as large as seven. The PAK DA also likely has a four-person crew, as evidenced by the order for 12 ejection seats for three test aircraft.
The KNIRTI Institute is responsible for the self-defense suite, which is planned to include electronic jammers, directional infrared countermeasures (made by NII Ekran), towed decoys (NII Ekran) and a chaff/flare dispenser system.
Data shows that the basic variant of the PAK DA will carry 12 Kh-BD (long-range) subsonic cruise missiles, most likely placed on six-round rotary launchers in two bays inside the airframe, similar to the Tu-160. This new missile is also planned to be the main weapon of modernized Tu-160M bombers. Rotary launchers for firing cruise missiles from internal weapon chambers are made by NPP Start in Yekaterinburg.
On Aug. 28, 2013, Raduga Co. received a contract from the Russian Defense Ministry for a research and development project called Romans, for what is now the Kh-BD (Product 506) missile. According to the contract, the missile was to begin flight tests in 2018 and complete state acceptance trials in 2020. These deadlines appear to have been missed. The plant in Smolensk is being prepared for series production of the Kh-BD. The same facility produces air-launched Raduga Kh-101/Kh-102 (Product 504) cruise missiles, used by the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS, at a rate of approximately three missiles per month.
No Kh-BD missile has ever been publicly presented. There is also no information about its characteristics, except that its range is much farther than for the current Kh-101/102. Considering the dimensions of the Tu-160’s internal weapon bay, the cross-section of the Kh-BD missile is likely close to that of the Kh-101/102, which already fully uses the available space. All that remains is to increase the length of the missile body. The Tu-160’s weapon compartment was designed in the 1970s to carry a large, 10.8-m-long (35-ft.) Kh-45 missile. That original missile was abandoned, but the weapon compartment still contains a lot of free space, as the Kh-101/102 is about 7.4 m long.
Is This Realistic?
Anticipating anything in Russia is a high-risk activity these days. It is unknown what will happen in the nation within the next few months, much less years out.
But there are two arguments in favor of the PAK DA program. First, strategic bombers are the most important component of the Russian Air Force. Second, the program is so advanced that relatively little effort is required to complete the construction of several test aircraft.
In addition to its military significance, the PAK DA is important for Russia’s public image. During the Army exhibition in August 2021, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov was asked to compare the PAK DA and the U.S. Air Force’s B-21. “We set ourselves the task of creating technology that surpasses the technology of other countries in terms of capabilities,” he replied.
The Russians’ mood may be spoiled by the Chinese Xian H-20, which will most likely be ready to fly earlier than the PAK DA.
Whether the PAK DA will begin series production and service will depend on factors that are difficult to quantify, both within and beyond the Russian aviation industry. Russia is unable to produce all the materials and components necessary for its aviation industry, especially electronics. If the Western embargo on deliveries, introduced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, is effective, it could block aircraft production in Russia.
Another issue—less visible but no less acute—is that production tooling, both hardware and software, are almost entirely foreign to Russian industry. The Russians can use these tools for a while without manufacturer support, but that will become more and more difficult with each passing month.
