Tu-22M3: News

mnztr wrote:https://theaviationgeekclub.com/tu-22m3-resurrected-from-storage-to-rejoin-russias-bomber-fleet

Anyone have any idea how many TU-22Ms are in storage? Above is link a pic of one being transferred from storage for M3M upgrading.

Had a few minutes so checked out the google map images. Most last photos are from mid 2020 on with only Soltsy being a 2019. The M2 and M3 difference in size when they are together is obvious. Operational are 4 squadrons and the training unit at Ryazan plus the single Tu-22M3R left at Srednyy. Counted 124 total air frames at the 8 locations that I'm aware of and believe at least 22 to be M2. There appears to be aircraft dismantling in progress at two airfields and there are 11 total aircraft at the two plants of which 4 probably are for parts only. In total there would be 55 operational, 11 at aircraft plants and 58 in storage of which 22 appear to be M2's.

Is that all the likely locations? How many M3 were built? You can bet NATO does not like these planes since they bribed the Ukranians to dismantle them. (although I suspect the valuable parts somehow found their way to Russia.) I read only 30 will be upgraded to M3M, is that still the case? If they did all of the M3s to M3M, that would be an impressive fleet. But with SU-34, +50 TU-160s and the Bear, they have a rediculous number of relatively long range delivery platforms. Plus the new bomber is coming...

mnztr wrote:Is that all the likely locations? How many M3 were built? You can bet NATO does not like these planes since they bribed the Ukranians to dismantle them. (although I suspect the valuable parts somehow found their way to Russia.) I read only 30 will be upgraded to M3M, is that still the case? If they did all of the M3s to M3M, that would be an impressive fleet. But with SU-34, +50 TU-160s and the Bear, they have a rediculous number of relatively long range delivery platforms. Plus the new bomber is coming...

I cannot think of any more locations and as pointed out even checked the repair and manufacturing plants. One of the biggest issues they are facing now is number of pilots available. They just don't have enough even with a major push on during the past few years. The last 2 years they have brought ~30 women into the flight schools to help alleviate but pilot training takes years.

Was under the impression they were going to upgrade 60 to Tu22M3M level...

Was this an updated version that had the incident ?

Backman wrote:Was this an updated version that had the incident ?

Don't believe so. There has only been one done so far so expect it would either be at the training unit or testing unit.

RIP. Looks like the aircraft is OK.

Status-6
@Archer83Able
·
5h
Three crew members died as a result of a sudden activation of the ejection system in a Tu-22M3 bomber during preparation for flight on the ground at the Shaykovka airbase in the Kaluga Oblast, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced.

"Due to the insufficient height to deploy the parachutes, three crew members received injuries incompatible with life upon landing"

Among the crew members who died is a commander of the 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, Colonel Vadim Beloslyudtsev.

According to Interfax, the fourth member of the crew survived the accident and was taken to the hospital.

RIP

Why the catapult killed the crew of the Tu-22M3

"Perhaps the one who was sitting in the commander's seat, out of lack of education or excitement, turned on the forced ejection switch." With these words, the source of the newspaper VZGLYAD describes the main version of the tragedy near Kaluga - at a military airfield due to an accidental ejection, three crew members of the Tu-22M3 bomber were killed. However, there are other assumptions.

On Tuesday, three servicemen were killed as a result of catapults detonating when the engines of a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber were launched at the Shaikovka military airfield near Kaluga. The 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment is based at this airfield, which just recently conducted tactical flight exercises. “Young officers were involved in the exercises, who for the first time in their practice took part in such events,” the Russian Defense Ministry quoted the regiment commander Colonel Vadim Beloslyudtsev as saying.

And now, immediately after these exercises, a tragedy with human casualties occurred at the airfield. An emergency on the ground led to the death of the regiment commander, regiment navigator and navigator-instructor from Ryazan, said a high-ranking source in the Russian Aerospace Forces. As TASS was told in the medical circles of the region, the fourth member of the crew survived, he was taken to the infirmary in the medical unit in Shaikovka.

Tu-22M is a family (M, M2, M3) of Soviet, later - Russian long-range supersonic missile-carrying bombers with variable wing geometry. The bomber has been in service with the Russian military since 1974. Aircraft of this type are designed to destroy land and sea targets with supersonic guided missiles and bombs at any time of the day and in any weather conditions. They can carry nuclear weapons. Its maximum speed can reach 2300 km per hour.

The previous disaster with fatalities on this type of aircraft in the Russian Air Force occurred in January of the year before last. Then, when approaching at the airfield in Olenegorsk (Murmansk region), a Tu-22M3 from the 40th Mixed Long-Range Aviation Regiment crashed. As a result, three crew members were killed, one survived.

An emergency near Kaluga happened during the preparation of the aircraft for flight, the Ministry of Defense said, right in the parking lot, while the crew was preparing to take off. The Ministry of Defense said that the commander of the Long-Range Aviation Regiment was supposed to conduct this flight as an instructor.

This is an important detail for understanding the circumstances of the tragedy, because the instructor, as a rule, in such cases is in the right seat (assistant crew commander). In the commander's place there is a pilot, whose qualifications the instructor must check and confirm. This procedure is called "test flight".

According to the source, someone from the commanding staff of the regiment was in the crew commander's seat. “Usually a regiment commander does not fly with ordinary pilots. And the one sitting on the left (in the commander's seat) could get out of vacation or have a break in flights for any other reason, and he needed a test flight with an instructor, because after the break, no one would ever let him out on his own. In addition, each pilot has many annual inspections by piloting technique instructors. In other words, any pilot has more than a dozen test flights a year, ”the expert says.

However, as a result, the test flight did not take place. "For an unknown reason, the forced bailout system went off," a senior Air Force source explained.

He told how the ejection procedure looks like: “On the left panel of the Tu-22M3 crew commander there is a“ Forced exit ”toggle switch. It is used in an emergency to forcefully eject three crew members at half-second intervals. At the same time, the commander must independently pull the handles on his chair for his own ejection, ”the interlocutor said.

On the Tu-22M3, the system ensures safe exit at a speed of at least 140 km / h. Therefore, three crew members were killed, and the one who was in the commander's place survived. This feature concerns exactly the ejection on this bomber - the seats installed on the Russian fighters make it possible to successfully eject at zero speed, even when parked at the airfield.

"Perhaps the one who was sitting in the commander's seat, out of lack of education or excitement, turned on the mentioned toggle switch on the left seat, even though it is under the cover," the source suggests. At the same time, he did not rule out a version of a technical malfunction - for example, a catapult could trigger a wandering current (although this is unlikely).

Honored Pilot of the USSR, former military pilot Oleg Smirnov is also sure that the cause of the incident could have been a mistake by the pilot who was in the seat of the crew commander. According to Smirnov, the state of emergency in Shaikovka is a reason to strengthen the training of pilots on ground ejection simulators.

But, for its part, the source notes, the cause of the tragedy could not be the lack of preparation of the crew member, but the design flaws of the ejection system of the Tu-22M3 bomber.

Both designers and military pilots have been well aware of this problem for decades. “At least you can jump on fighters from a place, they have a different chair,” said the interlocutor. "But Tupolev did not install such a chair for his bomber and invented his own chair." The seat, according to a specialist, is heavy and inconvenient for pilots, and even depends on the voltage of the batteries.

“Once the crew died from the fact that they could not jump - the voltage on the batteries dropped from the required 24 volts to below 22, and they simply could not activate their catapults,” the source said.

According to the expert, the seat in the Tu-22M3 is also inconvenient in terms of other parameters. “For example, it was made under the helmet of a pilot model ZSH-3, and then they switched to ZSH-5, and later on to ZSH-7. And they are larger in size and do not fit into the recess of the headrest of the chair. These chairs should have been at least improved a long time ago - there were always enough complaints about them, ”the interlocutor noted.

The state commission, which has already begun work at the scene of the tragedy, should find out the reasons for the emergency.

https://viysq5tyczhy54va65gm2d6ogq--k-politika-ru.translate.goog/pochemu-katapulta-ubila-ekipazh-tu-22m3/?utm_source=warfiles.ru

Just read about this on another forum, sad news.

RIP.

It is a shame people have to die before such changes are properly looked at and perhaps made.

GarryB wrote:It is a shame people have to die before such changes are properly looked at and perhaps made.

So the commander activates the under cover switch to eject the other three of the crew and then ejects himself manually, as long as there is sufficient voltage available and the seat headrests helmet indents are now too small for the current helmets. Whilst the ejector seat power pack doesn't have enough power to through the seat high enough when on the ground.

Hopefully this accident will cause a rethink and they will know exactly what happened as the operator of the switch, assuming it wasn't a technical fault, survived.

Publicity or sunlight is often the only way changes can be made.

At least it wasn't like our Vulcan bomber with down firing ejector seats!!!

NOTE: New version

There is information about the rescue of a crew member of the Tu-22 missile carrier

Soon after the accident at the military airfield Shaikovka near Kaluga, there was information about the rescue of a crew member of the Tu-22 missile carrier. It became known how he managed to escape.

This was announced by the Telegram channel "112".

Before an abnormal situation occurred on the Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber and catapults went off, one of the pilots, unlike his comrades, managed to fasten his seat belt. The rest of the crew at that moment were just going to do it. Thanks to this coincidence, he survived.

After the accident, the pilot was taken to the medical unit in Shaikovka, where he received medical assistance.

The Tu-22M3 missile carrier is a modified version of the Tu-22M long-range strategic bomber. A feature of this series of aircraft is the presence of variable sweep wings. The Tu-22M3 is armed with a 23 mm cannon and air-to-ground missiles.

Bombers are used to destroy land and sea targets. Such aircraft took part in hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic.

In connection with the tragic incident in the Kaluga region, which was reported by "Voennoye Obozreniye", an investigation was launched.

https://6b6gjclcha6ibjpa45wvvqdamu--topwar-ru.translate.goog/181187-pojavilis-dannye-o-spasenii-chlena-jekipazha-raketonosca-tu-22.html

Maybe a good time to condsider new seats with the m3m upgrade. Its odd that Tupolev decided to build the seats when the specialist seats are known to be the best in the world

Before an abnormal situation occurred on the Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber and catapults went off, one of the pilots, unlike his comrades, managed to fasten his seat belt. The rest of the crew at that moment were just going to do it. Thanks to this coincidence, he survived.

So step one in procedures is to put the seat belt on first before anything else perhaps would be a first thing they could do.

Then perhaps look at changing to zero zero seats and other safety measures...

Yes its true, with no belts no seat could have saved them

I still think China should have bought the Tu-22m, they would have ended up with a better bomber then the H-6 and most likely spent less investment, and China and Russia could have done joint projects together save both of them money.

At least it wasn't like our Vulcan bomber with down firing ejector seats!!!

Actually the Tu-22 did have downward ejecting seats... it was changed on the Tu-22M which is of course a different aircraft.

I still think China should have bought the Tu-22m, they would have ended up with a better bomber then the H-6 and most likely spent less investment, and China and Russia could have done joint projects together save both of them money.

The problem AFAIK was that China wanted to buy two Tu-22M3 bombers. They have probably invested too much into the Tu-16 to bother with something as old as the Tu-22M3.

The Soviets actually used the Tu-16 in Afghanistan in the 1980s because if its capacity to carry FAB-9000 bombs in its huge bomb bay originally designed to carry old bulky nuclear weapons...

Just because it is based on an old platform does not mean it is junk. Planes are just platforms, the avionics and weapons are what makes them effective:

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/h-6-evolves-from-cold-war-relic-to-beijings-hammer/140043.article

China could still buy Tu-22m3 they are still useful and better than the H-6. China could then retire some of its older H-6 and with the H-20 in development they would run all three bombers. The H-6 isn't useless but the Tu-22m is much better. And there's only some much upgrading u can do.

PapaDragon wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:China could still buy Tu-22m3 they are still useful and better than the H-6. China could then retire some of its older H-6 and with the H-20 in development they would run all three bombers. The H-6 isn't useless but the Tu-22m is much better. And there's only some much upgrading u can do.

There are only 60 Tu-22s left in existence

There's actually more, a recent post on here stated 55 in service, 11 in repair shop, and 58 Tu-22m2 in storage, so just sell them the M2. Over 200 M2 were built so many spares lurking around.

Tu-22M is last week's model in comparison to that obsolete pile of junk

The Tu-22M3M is a very good aircraft, and I would suggest it is competitive with the B-1B in terms of performance, but the basic design is getting old now, just the the basic design of the Tu-16 is too.

No amount of new engines and new radars and new electronics can patch over the fact that they could make something better from scratch now.

Introducing the Tu-22M3 now would be like paying for a contract to locally produce Su-24s... they are not bad aircraft, but are in the process of being superceded so spending money introducing them does not make sense.

If you could work out a contract with Russia to take them all of their hands with engines and spare parts when there are enough Tu-160s and PAK DAs to replace them then that would make sense, but I am not sure Russia would be happy to give away brand new NK-32 engine technology that easily... or the new avionics for that matter... the money to compensate them for that technology transfer would mean they would need to make it very expensive... in which case China will likely decide to develop there own platform... especially after seeing what the PAK DA looks like.