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This modified Tupolev 160 concept, at the request of Putin himself, would have an entry into service as soon as 2027 and could very well change aviation in the world's largest country. However, likely it won't ever be built, and the future of supersonic travel is still very much up for grabs. This is why.
Turning a bomber aircraft into a passenger plane isn't a new idea, and many commercial planes owe their initial development to military contracts.
Thus when top officials visited the production facility of Russia's supersonic plane, the Tu-160 white swan, or you might know it as the NATO name Blackjack.
The Tupolev 160 began as a response to the US Air Force C-1. Russia needed a bomber aircraft that could fly supersonic Mach 2.3, with a variable-geometry swing. Various different designs were initally considered, but in the end in 1984, Russia selected the 160 as the winning design.
Flash forward to 2018, when the government signed a deal to produce ten new Tu-160M2s, and restore as many of the existing ones with new engines.
This passenger version would have the same airframe, although inside it would only have a crew of two, a pilot and co-pilot
Speaking of passengers, At 40ms of internal space, and a seat pitch of 90cm, or 35 inches, that would be 88 passengers - not bad! realistically up to 10 passengers would be expected
it would have a range of 12,300 km (6,600 nmi) and a top speed of Mach 2.05. This would mean that passengers could fly from Moscow to london in only an hour, with about 30 minutes to take off and land - ignoring sonic booms of course!
The plane had the space, and the program was short cash, so why not let commercial operators, and the many rich billionaires of Russia, buy the unfinished airframes and have their own mini private jets that could fly supersonic. The tech was there, the planes needed modernization, and there was a market.
"Big business tycoons in different countries (an Arab sheikh, a millionaire in Australia and a wealthy Greek among them) keep asking us to make a personal supersonic plane on the basis of the missile-carrying Tupolev-160 or long-range bomber Tupolev-2M3," said Tupolev Deputy CEO for Design and R&D, Valery Solozobov
And to understand why, we must go back to where it all began - with the Tu-144
The first supersonic aircraft to fly into the sky was the Tu-144. The Russian-built aircraft could fly faster than the Concorde, and carry more passengers - although reportedly you wouldn't want to fly onboard due to the lack of comfort nor the noise of the powerful engines.
Sixteen Tu-144s were built, but after one crashed during a delivery run the plane lost its golden goose reputation and was regulated for ad-hoc services. It was too expensive to operate and would be shelved practically a year later by the government exclusively for airforce use
"It was taken out of production because airline tickets must take into consideration average salaries in the country.”
"Today, the situation is different,” the president said to the engineers. “Big companies have appeared which could have used this aircraft.”
Why can't the Tu-160 be turned into a passenger plane.
The first is cost. Just because it has room onboard for 4-6 passengers, doesn't make it a cheap retrofit.
"Turning Tupolev-160 into a passenger plane would be a very costly affair," said a statement from Tupolev "It is far less expensive to build a plane anew and without the know-hows used in creating the Tupolev-160."
By having a private buyer, the plane could be flown to USA and sold to the CIA to take apart. An idea that obviously, Russia is keen to avoid.
"Most of the Tupolev-160 know-hows are secret, so building even a passenger configuration of this plane for private clients would be wrong," added the Tupolev spokesperson.
But just because the Tu-160 won't see passenger service, doesn't mean Russia is out of the game.
Back in Febrary, a partnership was announced between the UAE’s Mubadala and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) to develop a new supersonic transport plane. And they are moving fast, with a goal to present the specifications by the end of this year.
So far they are flirting with two different versions of a supersonic jet, one that can carry eight passengers, while the other could transport 30, at a speed of mach 1.8. It would have a range of four hours flight time, which at that speed would be around 8890 km or 4800 nautical miles.
One of the sticking points is that the engine used for the plane, the Nk-32 that is on the tu-160, isn't right. Its not the right size and its not compliant for commercial operators nor airports around the world.
Needless to say, there is clearly interest amoung the rich of the world for a plane that can get you there fast, and the UAC is looking to sell this plane to the middle east and southeast Asia.
15 сен 2024
