Russia's next-generation stealth strategic bomber PAK DA will undergo trials at the Flight
Test and Development Center in the town of Zhukovsky outside Moscow.
The Tupolev Aircraft Company’s Flight Test and Development Center was set up in Zhukovsky
on the initiative of famous Soviet aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev in 1949.
The center has been used to develop & test planes designed by the Tupolev Aircraft Company.
PAK DA is being developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau for Russia’s Aerospace Force.
It is expected to replace Tu-22M3, Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes Russia’s PAK DA strategic bomber.
Let’s get in the details.
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Tupolev CEO Alexander Konyukhov provided some insight about PAK DA during a meeting devoted
to the 70th anniversary of the Zhukovsky Test Flight and Development Center.
He said, "There are big plans ahead for testing and
further developing the heavily upgraded Tu-22M3M, Tu-160 and Tu-95MS aircraft along with large-scale
work for testing the prospective complex of long-range aviation [PAK DA]”
It is interesting to note that the head of the Defense and Security Committee in the
upper house of Russia’s parliament Viktor Bondarev earlier said that the R&D work on
the PAK DA multirole aircraft was nearing completion.
Tupolev CEO Konyukhov said that the timeframe of creating the PAK DA is comparable with
the term of creating the Tu-144 supersonic passenger plane and would take around 5 to 7 years.
So, tentatively PAK DA is expected to see deliveries to Russia’s Aerospace Force between
2025-2030 after the trials have been completed.
This schedule is inline to what Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov had said some time back.
Most of the details regarding the PAK DA is classified.
Some reports indicate that the aircraft will have a combat radius of around 6200 miles
or 10,000 kilometers with full payload.
It is expected to have a loaded weight of 100 to 120 tonnes with 40 tonnes of weapon
carrying capacity.
The aircraft is supposed to have a modernized variant of Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack supersonic
strategic bombers’ Kuznetsov NK-32 engines.
It will also have some avionics derived from Sukhoi PAK FA that is Su 57.
PAK-DA is likely going to be a very low observable aircraft.
But the bomber will not entirely rely on its stealth for survivability, it will have a
wide range of advanced electronic warfare systems like radar jamming components.
Some sources indicate that the PAK DA will be equipped with sophisticated weaponry.
The bomber is expected to be armed with hypersonic cruise missile & laser-guided bombs.
PAK DA will also carry tactical as well as strategic nuclear variant of the weapons.
PAK DA seems to be designed to have a similar capability to American B-21 Raider bomber
whose first prototype is being currently developed.
To know more about B 21, check the video on the above card.
The U.S Air Force plans to purchase 80–100 B 21 aircraft with initial delivery staring
in the mid-2020s, so it will likely be deployed earlier than Russian PAK DA.
PAK DA concept looks a formidable one.
Provided with funds, the Russian aviation industry is technically capable of developing
advanced aircraft like this.
The cost of developing this aircraft will be pretty high and the affordability factor
will be the major hindrance.
Russian president Mr. Putin revealed that a procurement plan is being laid out for acquiring
76 Su-57.
These jets are expected to be deployed by 2028.
The Kremlin previously planned to have 150 of these aircraft in service by 2020.
It is to be noted that Russia has similarly decided to curtail production new T-14 Armata
tank and had instead preferred upgrading its existing T 90 tanks
So, time and again it has been seen that many Russian military projects have got delayed
due to technical and financial issues.
If the PAK-DA does eventually come to fruition, it will undoubtedly pose a serious threat—especially
if it is built-in numbers.