Striking A Blow To The Nuclear Triad: Russia Has No Resources To Replace Strategic Bombers
1- 3.06.2025, 10:56
- 6,314
The unique SBU operation "Spider's Web" made history.
The unique SBU operation called "Web", in which FPV drones hit Russian strategic bombers, was the first ever case of a successful attack of this kind. As a result, the Russian army suffered damage that defies simple financial calculation.
In their material, analysts of Defense Express found out the scale of the damage inflicted on the Russian strategic aviation, as well as analyzed the issue of restoring its potential.
According to the official data of the Security Service of Ukraine, Russia's losses are estimated at 7 billion dollars. However, in order to find out the real scale of the damage inflicted, it is necessary to take into account the fact that we are talking about irreversible losses, since the Russian Federation does not produce new strategic bombers.
Analysts noted that strikes on enemy aircraft were carried out in such a way that they are not repairable. And every loss of such an aircraft is irreversible in the foreseeable future, as Russia has effectively stopped mass production of new strategic bombers since the 1990s.
For example, today new Tu-160M2s are assembled from hulls left over from Soviet times. Since 2022, only two new machines have managed to be assembled, and two more are at various stages of assembly. All other Tu-160s are undergoing modernization. According to various sources, the Russian Air Force has at its disposal from 12 to 18 of these aircraft, with up to five of them are being modernized at the plant in Kazan.
The situation is even more complicated with the Tu-95MS: the production of these aircraft ceased completely. The total number of these machines in Russia is estimated at 40 to 60, but not all are in flying condition. Since 2013, from 18 to 27 of them have been upgraded to the Tu-95MSM version for the use of cruise missiles X-101.
As for the Tu-22M3, it formally refers to long-range, not strategic bombers, and is capable of carrying only missiles X-22 and X-32. Attempts to modernize it to the Tu-22M3M version with an expanded range of weapons are progressing extremely slowly, despite the availability of hulls stored in the open air since the 1990s.
The authors of the publication emphasized that the only real possibility for Russia to compensate for the loss of strategic bombers is the development and production of a new type - PAK DA. However, even in this direction, the timeline is extremely distant. The final configuration was approved only in 2021, and by now, according to open data, there is only a static sample for ground testing.
Thereby, mass production of PAK DA may not begin until 2027, and this is with favorable developments. At the same time, the cost of such a program is extremely high.
"Renewed losses in strategic bombers for the Russian Federation are about really billion-dollar losses, with well over $7 billion, and about the medium and long term," the analysts summed up.
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