Tu-95MS "Bear"

The Russian air force learned nothing after those Ka-52s in pskov were destroyed

It is normal for an enemy to escalate, and it will be normal for Russia to respond with an escalation of its own... this is the way of things.

The pitch on the props of a TU-95 blow me away, but then you realize its travelling faster then any other prop plane. I really wished they would develop more sophisticated props for this engine. Even today, it has no parallel. If they could develop a ducted arrangement for it with more modern blades it could be much more compact and quiet.

I think the whole point is that they are the way they are to achieve the speeds they achieve... they only run on about 15K hp per engine, yet the Bear is still the worlds fastest propeller driven aircraft.

The multi bladed propfan type engines on the An-70 look more capable but they offer rather lower flight speeds despite having significantly more engine power... those propfans and ducted fans might create more thrust by volume but the velocity is not great enough to achieve high flight speeds that the Bear operates at.

Keep in mind at low altitudes the Bear is actually faster than the B-52, and if you think the B-52 is quiet you are wrong... and the Tu-160 is much louder obviously.

January 16, 08:42,
updated January 16, 09:02

Deeply modernized missile carrier Tu-95MSM made a test flight

During the tests, systems and equipment were checked

MOSCOW, 16 January. /TASS/. The deeply modernized Tu-95MSM missile carrier made a test flight, during which systems and equipment were checked. This was reported to journalists on Monday in the press service of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

"As part of the test program, the next flight of the deeply modernized Tu-95MSM missile carrier took place. During the flight, the necessary checks of systems and equipment were carried out," the company said.

It is noted that as part of a deep modernization on the aircraft, the necessary complexes of improvements were carried out to improve performance. The result of the work carried out will be a significant increase in the efficiency and reliability of the aviation complex when used for its intended purpose.

The UAC recalled that work on the creation of the Tu-95MSM is being carried out jointly by Tupolev PJSC and TANTK named after. G. M. Beriev. Tu-95MSM is a prototype strategic missile carrier, a new modification of the world's fastest turboprop missile carrier Tu-95MS.

https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/16806485

I hope the sound of the Tu-95 stays the same.....

I presume the monstrous blades will still the same.

The improvements on the blades and the engines are supposed to improve efficiency and performance which probably means more thrust and less noise and better fuel economy.

I would guess more precisely designed and manufactured blade shapes and better pitch use during flight would allow increases in performance too.

Hole wrote:

The training exercise also involved Tu-95MS long-range aircraft, which fired air-launched cruise missiles.

Not sure why those are tested. Looking at the SMO they seem to work pretty fine.

During wartime, with all the experience gained, enginerrs become much more creative.

Who knows what they really tested.

I know you are joking, but making very fast propeller blade tips is very easy... the longer the blades the faster the tips move.

The problem is that when they reach supersonic speeds they mostly just make noise.

I think someone complaining about the noise a Bear makes obviously hasn't heard a Huey UH-1 or for that matter a Harvard trainer... because of tip speed they really make a loud noise.

I do not understand why they are not using curved tip propellers on the Tu-95. This reduces tip speed and noise. There is no loss of performance that
I am aware of. In fact, the transition supersonic tip regime is a loss of thrust performance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scimitar_propeller

It is worse than the article describes. At speeds where supersonic shocks are generate there is also cavitation. Similar to the submarine problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra-rotating_propellers

Contra-rotating propellers make more noise but there is no discussion of a bad mix with curved blades. It is possible curved blades would amplify the
noise associated with the contra-rotating configuration. But I think the trans-sonic shock regime is worse for noise generation, considering cavitation.

It is not like they don't know how to make propeller blades... the blades on the engines on the An-70 are optimised for thrust for takeoff at heavy loads, but they are not optimised to fly at the speeds the Bear flys at... no other propeller driven aircraft flys at the speeds the Bear flys at, which is why other propeller driven aircraft have different looking blades.

I suspect they are optimised to generate sufficient thrust for high speed flight at the altitude the aircraft operates at... and changing them to increased thrust on the ground for takeoff like the D-27 propfans for the An-70 might help with take off but might also reduce top and cruising speed at operational heights.

A turboprop based on the PD-35 that has twelve blades on the front and 8 blades at the rear might generate enormous thrust but reduce top speed flight performance and be slower than the blades and engines currently being used.

Arrow wrote:How long does Russia intend to leave the Tu95MS fleet in service? Are all components for these planes produced in Russia or were they made in Ukraine, which may cause problems during renovations? To what extent can actions in Ukraine exploit these bombers?
​Tu-95MS is still the basic machine of Russia's nuclear triad, and of course it is a great bomber for conventional ALCM attacks.

They were made by Aviakor s an aviation plant located in Samara, Russia, they apparently filed for insolvency in 2017 but it's believed that the government now own it, but not confirmed. The fact that these have been upgraded over the years and Russia seems to have plans to keep them in service for now. I would think they are fully geared up to keep them going. They have proved their worth in Syria and Ukraine. Their reliability and range are their keys strengths, currently doing their job as they should.

The NK-12 turboprop engines are made by Kuznetsov. Also a Russian company in Samara. The designs have been digitized and the engines are now built with modern CNC machine tools instead of the old process. The Russian state must have spent a pretty penny on this. Kuznetsov had its factory totally modernized after decades of neglect. The engine is also used in oil and gas pumping facilities, at least it used to, but there are other alternatives today.

Kuznetsov basically reverse engineered the NK-12 and NK-32 from paper schematics and made them with modern processes and tools.

The latest Tu-95 upgrade seems to use similar electronics to the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3. They basically unified the radar and other systems.

In theory the PAK DA should be able to do much the same missions though. Whenever it enters service.

I think we will see a mixture of Tu-160, Tu-22M, Tu-95 and Pak Da, and eventually after some years Tu-22M and Tu-95 will be phased out, I have a feeling Tu-22M might be phased out before the Tu-95 despite the age.