Russia touts upgraded nuclear-ready 'White Swan' bomber; All there’s to know about Tu-160M

Russia's state-controlled United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced the successful debut flight of an upgraded nuclear-capable Tu-160M strategic bomber on Monday. The update comes as Moscow continues to use long-range aircraft armed with missiles to bombard critical infrastructure in Ukrainian cities as winters set in. "Another upgraded Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber developed by the Tupolev Company (part of the UAC within the state tech corporation Rostec) performed its debut flight," the UAC press office said in a statement.

The flight of the upgraded Tu-160M bomber—one of 50 ordered by Russia's Defence Ministry in 2015—tested the aircraft's stability, control, and the performance of its operating systems including engines and radio-electronic equipment, the statement said. During the flight, the bomber’s pilots performed manoeuvres to check the aircraft’s stability and control in the air, the operating capacity of its systems and engines and onboard radio-electronic equipment, it said.

NATO calls it ‘Blackjack’ while Russia calls it ‘the White Swan’

The Tu-160M is an upgraded version of the Tu-160 bomber developed in the Soviet era and dubbed "the White Swan" among pilots. The reporting name for the bomber by NATO is ‘Blackjack’.Along with the Tu-95MS bombers, these planes are the mainstay of the Russian Aerospace Force’s long-range aviation. The Tu-160M is the largest supersonic aircraft in the history of military aviation and the world’s heaviest warplane capable of carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The Tu-160 was engineered in response to the Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber developed in the United States.

In April 2015, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu handed down an order to resume the production of Tu-160 bombers from scratch. The aircraft had to be heavily upgraded compared to the operational aircraft, which actually meant creating a new combat plane. The decision to restart the production of Tu-160 bombers was prompted, among other things, by the need to create a fundamentally new next-generation strike aircraft platform. Upgrades include new targeting systems, upgraded cruise missiles, and an electronic warfare suite. Russia intends to arm the Tu-160M with the hypersonic, nuclear-ready Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missile as part of the upgrade, reported Newsweek. 

Russian strikes into critical infrastructure as freezing temperatures sets in

Russia's existing Tu-160 fleet has been used alongside the more numerous Tu-95 bomber aircraft to hit targets during Moscow's latest invasion of Ukraine. After Ukraine’s pushback from the northern lines of Kyiv, Russia has concentrated from the south and northeast lines of the capital. Moscow has now pivoted to cruise missile and drone attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure, seeking to collapse the national energy grid and freeze Ukrainians into submission. Temperatures have already fallen below zero across Ukraine, and leaders in Kyiv have urged foreign partners to do more to alleviate the energy crisis and strengthen Ukraine's air defence umbrella.

Ukraine’s atomic agency on December 19 said that a Russian “Shahed kamikaze” drone was recorded flying over the site of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant after midnight on Monday. “This is an absolutely unacceptable violation of nuclear and radiation safety,” said the ‘Energoatom’ agency on its Telegram channel. The power plant is situated in the Mykolaiv region in Southern Ukraine.

Energoatom appealed to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to prevent nuclear facilities from being exposed to the risk of attack by the Russian army and said that they have informed them about the fact that an attack drone was over the site of a nuclear plant. “We appeal to the entire world community who pose a threat to the nuclear and radiation safety of Ukraine and the world,” urged Energoatom. Earlier, Sky News reported Monday that Ukrainian authorities said the air defence system had destroyed around 15 drones directed at the capital Kyiv in attacks on Monday. Officials added that critical infrastructure had been hit.