Russia Expands Frontline Bomber Fleet: Soviet Tu-22M3 Jets Being Brought Out Of Storage For Comprehensive Modernisation

As tensions between Russia and the Western Bloc escalate to levels unprecedented since the Cold War, both parties are making considerable investments in high end military capabilities needed wage a great power war. The number of bombers in particular in service with both Russia and NATO declined sharply throughout the 1990s, with the vast fleets formerly deployed being either scrapped or placed in storage as reserves. As tensions continue to rise, both Russia and the United States have sought to enlarge their frontline bomber fleets through a combination of investment in new platforms and efforts to restore jets in storage to frontline service. Thus alongside the American B-21 Raider program, its Russian analogue the PAK DA program, and investments by Russia to restart production of the Tu-160 bomber as the Tu-160M2, both fleets have received restored and modernised airframes built in the Cold War which have been resurrected from storage for service in possible future conflicts.

Following on from reports that the U.S. Air Force has received its first B-52H bomber from ‘boneyard’ storage, new reports emerged from early November 2019 that a Soviet built Tu-22M3 swept wing bomber was resurrected from storage at Sovetskaya Gavan/Kamenny Ruchey airfield to be put back into frontline service. While not as modern as the latest Tu-22M3M bombers which recently began to enter service, the M3 variant still represents a relatively modern and highly formidable asset capable of delivering standoff strikes against targets across Europe and the Asia-Pacific from bases on the Russian mainland. The bomber has reportedly been delivered to Kazan’s aircraft factory for modernisation to the Tu-22M3M standard before being delivered to the Russian Air Force.

It is unclear how many bombers Russia intends to restore in this way, but the country is thought to hold sufficient aircraft in reserve to field multiple new squadrons at full strength. New weapons systems recently developed for the bombers, most notably the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missile, could well have increased requirements for the size of the Russian bomber fleet as more launch platforms are required to deploy modern ordinance. The majority of combat aircraft in Soviet service at the time of the Cold War’s were retired during the 1990s due to massive defence cuts, and quantities of aircraft in reserve are currently very substantial - including not only bombers but also transports, fighters and heavyweight interceptors such as the MiG-31. When properly modernised, these can provide Russia with a relatively cost effective means of expanding its fleet.