Tu-22M3 Strategic Bomber Performs Debut Flight
Russia’s latest modernized Tupolev Tu-22M3M long-range missile-carrying bomber has performed its debut flight, a source in the domestic defense industry told TASS on Friday.
“The first upgraded Tu-22M3M made the debut flight from the airfield of the Kazan-based Gorbunov Aircraft Enterprise on Friday. This flight started the missile-carrying bomber’s flight tests,” the source said.
“There were no weapons aboard the aircraft and the flight was brief,” the source said.
The Tu-22M3M was rolled out by the Gorbunov Aircraft Enterprise on August 16.
As another source in the Russian defense industry told TASS, until now, the bomber was undergoing a series of ground-based tests, during which specialists were checking its new onboard radio-electronic equipment, carrying out the ground-based engine runs and testing compatibility of the aircraft’s artificial intelligence elements.
