what can be the bomb loading of Tu-160 ?

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By: ben - 21st June 2002 at 08:21

I know it's a cruise missile vectors but could be in a second role a B-52/B-1b/Tu-22 like , with huge load of free fall bomb !

My question is how many bombs can be stored : its max load is 40t but 30t is a better estimation of reasonable max load ( 24 AS-16 is 28800t ) but does a load of 120 X 250kg or 60 500kg bombs ... could be realist in term of storage space and rack capacity ?

For the heavy russian free fall bombs ( 3000/5000/9000kg ) how they could be stored ; one by bay or possibly two or three ?

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By: Anonymous - 21st June 2002 at 12:41 - Edited 16th October 2019 at 10:05

RE: what can be the bomb loading of Tu-160 ?

Max load is 40 tons.

The Kh-15 has the following details:

"length 4780 width 455 wingspan 920 weight 1200 warhead 150 range 160 Int+AR "

The Tu-160 can carry 24 Kh-15s in two bays (with four rotary launchers).

With a length of 2.3m and a width of 400mm a standard OFAB-500U HE-FRG bomb could be made to fit in half the space of one Kh-15. this suggests a potential for 48 OFAB-500U or equivelent bombs which equates to 24,000kg. Of course I see no reason why specially shaped 1,500kg HE bombs could not be made of a similar size and shape to the Kh-15 (which weighs 1,200kgs). This would result in a load of 36,000kgs. Of course if you wanted maximum load then 2,000kg bombs the size of a Kh-15 with 20 loaded would do it.
Of course 48 500kg bombs with say GPS/Glonass guidance would be more useful.
Regarding the larger bombs the 3,000kg and 5,000kg bombs could certainly be carried though the rotary launchers may have to be removed. The FAB-9000 could probably be accomodated if they were mounted conformally (ie half hanging out... they are very large weapons and only the Tu-16 can carry it from memory in its wide bomb bay... a bay that was designed for large nuclear weapons).

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By: ben - 22nd June 2002 at 07:39 - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00

RE: what can be the bomb loading of Tu-160 ?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 22-06-02 AT 07:39 AM (GMT)]russian have JDAM like with Glosnass ?

That's look realist but no much pub was done !

By: Anonymous - 23rd June 2002 at 01:07 - Edited 16th October 2019 at 10:05

RE: what can be the bomb loading of Tu-160 ?

They have been testing GLONASS guided bombs (and the tests were carried out on the Tu-160).
I don't know how far the tests have gone as it is not just a case of bolting on a GPS... you have to design it so that it can handle winds and attempts to jam/interfere with the signal.

From off the top of my head the tests were done in 1999.