Prospective Air Complex for Long Range Aviation (PAK DA)
Prospective Air Complex for Long Range Aviation [PAK DA - perspektivnyj aviatsionnyj kompleks dalnej aviatsii] [also known as Produkt 80 / "Product 80" or Poslannik / "Courier"] was the Russian strategic bomber of new generation produced by "Tupolev". Research and development work on the bomber began in 2009. PAK DA will be subsonic flight speed, aircraft guns will be placed inside his body. The design of the machine will be the most widely used radar absorbing materials ( "stealth" technology).
TASS revealed in December 2023 that Moscow had actually begun establishing a base to test the PAK DA bomber, which was scheduled to make its first flight in 2025, with serial production of the bomber set to begin in 2027. The project dates back to the 1990s, when the Kremlin first sought to develop a strategic stealth bomber. However, funding for the program did not begin until 2008, while the PAK DA was not officially announced until 2019. The first prototype of the bomber began production the following year (2020), and was codenamed “Product No. 80” or “Poslanik,” which means “messenger” in Russian.
In the course of hostilities, the combat capabilities of formations (subunits) of DA are estimated by the amount of damage inflicted on enemy targets. This damage will largely be determined by the combat performance of each aircraft. Such indicators for DA aircraft include: flight speed, ceiling, tactical radius of action (flight range), armament, electronic equipment and special equipment.
DA aircraft have high tactical performance. They have a high thrust-to-weight ratio, increased load-bearing properties, and modern aerodynamics. The aircraft are multi-purpose aviation complexes equipped with an in-flight refueling system (except for the Tu-22M3). The use of modern sighting and navigation systems and various means of destruction on DA aircraft ensures effective engagement of various targets on land and sea in all weather conditions, day and night.
The PAK DA is designed to incorporate modern stealth technologies that would make it less detectable by enemy radar systems. The actual effectiveness of its stealth capabilities remains a subject of speculation until more information becomes publicly available. Unlike the supersonic Tu-160, the PAK DA is said to be a subsonic aircraft. This design choice emphasizes stealth and payload capacity over raw speed. The PAK DA is expected to have an intercontinental range, and it would be capable of carrying a variety of precision-guided munitions, including nuclear weapons. The PAK DA is part of Russia's modernization efforts to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent and to ensure its long-range aviation remains competitive with developments in other major powers, such as the U.S. B-21 Raider.
Initially it was assumed that the aircraft will enter the army in the years 2023-2025, the first test flight was scheduled for 2019-2020 years. Later it became known that the creation of the bomber was shifted due to the resumption of serial production of Tu-160. The first flight of the prototype PAK DA was planned for 2025.
While the US for many years had the only operational stealth aircraft, as of 2000 Russia was reportedly designing a stealth bomber. Russia announced plans in 2009 to develop a new strategic bomber featuring stealth technology by 2025. The new bomber was expected to replace the Tu-95MC Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, and Tu-22M3 Backfire long-range bombers currently in service with Russia’s strategic aviation. As of 2012 Russia’s strategic air forces operated a total of 63 Tu-95MS and 13 Tu-160 bombers. Altogether, they were capable of carrying 850 long-range cruise missiles.
The general look of the new strategic bomber has already been worked out, and engineers are currently finishing work on aircraft specific operational requirements, Chernyayev said. “We have everything today to develop the plane on time and put it into operation together with [Tupolev] Tu-95MS Bear, Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-22M3 Backfire [strategic bombers], which have proven their high reliability,” he added.
Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who had responsibility for military-industrial affairs, and the Armed Force’s General Staff, disagreed over the need for a new “traditional” strategic bomber. Rogozin said on his blog in June 2012 that it would be undesirable for Russia to "go down the American route," and produce a bomber like the Northrop B-2, and repeated his earlier calls for a hypersonic air vehicle system instead of a traditional long-range bomber. In earlier comments, Rogozin had appeared to dismiss the need for PAK-DA, saying long-range bombers would fall victim to air defense systems long before reaching their targets.
The Russian Air Force has approved the conceptual design and specification of its future PAK-DA strategic bomber, paving the way for development of components for the aircraft, Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said 11 April 2013. “The development of the aircraft was going as planned. The outline of its design and characteristics has been approved and all relevant documents have been signed allowing the industry to start the development of systems for this plane,” Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers.
The Russian Air Force has tactical and technical requirements for a new generation of strategic bombers, as reported by Interfax. According to some sources, the PAK DA would be based on the supersonic Tu-160 bomber. Later references to the new bomber, including a televised address from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seem to imply the aircraft will be an entirely new design. Some speculation suggests that it might follow the stealthy design of the America B-2 Spirit bomber, but there was little public evidence to support that.
The first full-size model of Russia’s future long-range bomber PAK DA, being developed for the Aerospace Force, has been created by the Tupolev company, a source in Russia’s defense-industrial complex told TASS 01 March 2017. "Several scale mock-ups of the PAK DA bomber have been made of composite materials. Also, there was a full-size mock-up made of wood. All models are based on the flying wing concept," the source said.
Its airframe will be made of radar-absorbent material. All weapons will be placed inside the fuselage. PAK DA will receive the NK-32 engine from the Tu-160, which has been upgraded beyond recognition. Although, what was the extra cost of R&D, if the unit was actually very technological and meets all modern requirements. It was planned that the maximum thrust will remain at the same level - about 24,000 - 25,000 kgf. "Also, PAK DA is to be equipped with the latest radioelectronic warfare equipment of domestic manufacture, unparalleled in terms of effectiveness," the source said. Another source in the Russian defense industry said the first test sample of a future bomber will perform its first flight by 2025. The plane will have a subsonic speed.
Moscow has also equipped the PAK DA with advanced computers capable of controlling flight and monitoring enemy movements, as well as equipping it with unmanned flight patterns, and the latest communications and electronic warfare systems, which give it the ability to launch electronic attacks.
The bomber weighs 145 tons at takeoff, including a payload of 30 tons of nuclear and conventional munitions. It is designed as a long-range strategic bomber, with a range of up to 12,000 kilometers and an endurance of 30 hours. As for the PAK DA's speed, it is likely to fly at subsonic speeds (below the speed of sound), as long-range bombers focus more on stealth than speed, which also gives them the ability to carry a greater weight of munitions.
The Russian bomber is also estimated to be able to carry up to 12 missiles, primarily the Kh-BD cruise missiles under development, which have a maximum range of 6,500 kilometers, as well as the Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles known as the Dagger due to their ability to hit targets with high accuracy. The Kinzhal missiles have a range of up to 3,000 kilometers, can carry nuclear or conventional warheads, and can reach a speed of 14,800 kilometers per hour. The PAK DA is also expected to have a reduced radar cross section (RCS) feature, in addition to using materials that absorb radar frequencies, which enhances its stealth capabilities and makes it able to penetrate airspace without being detected by enemy radars.
When comparing the Russian bomber to its American counterpart, the PAK DA has a heavier load of ammunition, as the B-21 takes off with a lighter load of up to 15 tons, which is an advantage for the Russians and a disadvantage at the same time, because the heavier load hinders the bomber's performance, reduces its stealth effectiveness, and makes it more vulnerable to threats from modern air defenses, in addition to the fact that the heavy weight extends the mission time. As for the range, the two bombers have a close range with a relative advantage for the Russian bomber, and the two bombers are also close in their theoretical armament capabilities with the ability to carry and launch nuclear and conventional weapons.
Proposed long-range next generation plane being developed by the Tupolev design bureau will have a variety of functions. It will be configured as a bomber, command center or reconnaissance plane, as follows from memos compiled for a July 2018 meeting of the council for legislative support for the defense-industrial complex and military-technical cooperation under the Federation Council. "Next generation front-line aviation planes (Sukhoi-57) are being created for addressing a wide range of tasks. So are airborne command centers at the strategic and operative levels and reconnaissance and strategic aviation planes (PAK DA)," the memos sid.
The feasibility of implementing such characteristics within the Russian military-industrial complex remains an unanswered question. This uncertainty was primarily due to the fact that the russian authorities are still engaged in developing a crucial element for this project – the Product RF jet engines. These engines are intended to be derived from the NK-32-2 (Product R) engines, a modified version of the powerplant used in the Tu-160 aircraft.
The main difference between the American and Russian bombers lies simply in the amount of support that each project receives. The American bomber is an actual project in progress, and the manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, is already working on producing six units at a cost of $700 million each, while the US Air Force plans to buy 100 bombers of this type over the next three decades. However, there are still many doubts surrounding the PAK DA bomber, and experts believe that Russia will not be able to produce more than one prototype due to financial and logistical difficulties, and the unrealistic initial cost of only $ 160 million per aircraft. Pessimistic estimates suggest that the PAK DA will be nothing more than a “paper tiger” and will not take to the skies anytime soon.
Believing that the Russian company Tupolev is incapable of developing a stealth bomber is a kind of arrogance, and that the real question is not whether Russia will produce its own stealth bomber, but when it will do so, and what capabilities it will offer by then.
The term “Wunderwaffe,” which in German means “wonder weapon,” is a term that was common during World War II to describe the superweapons that the Nazi propaganda ministry advertised without any actual existence. The Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia’s focus on the battlefield, the drain on its economic resources on the battlefield, and economic sanctions on the Kremlin that limit Moscow’s ability to obtain the necessary materials and equipment make building a stealth bomber a more difficult project. All of this could, at best, delay the serial production phase, which is likely to exceed the announced timeline of 2027, which gives the United States a significant strategic advantage, should the B-21 enter service, and gives Washington air dominance in the next phase.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
