Russia continues to modernize its Tu-160 strategic bombers. Each such aircraft is capable of carrying Kh-55SM cruise missiles with both thermonuclear and conventional warheads, reported the American publication 19FortyFive.
Analyst Chris Osborne specified that the Tu-160M received a new navigation system, an updated control complex, and new-generation autopilot technologies.
The integration of air-launched hypersonic weapons and long-range anti-ship cruise missiles could allow the Tu-160M to strike previously unreachable targets with greater risk.
Osborne suggested that equipping the Tu-160M2 with hypersonic weapons is quite realistic, considering the experience of launching Kh-47M2 "Kinzhal" missiles from the "White Swan."
He recalled that the experience of the American "strategist" B-52 proves the possibility of improving such aircraft even decades after their initial operation.
It should be noted that the Kh-55SM missile was created in the USSR exclusively as a carrier of a thermonuclear charge with a power of 200 kilotons. The Tu-160 can accommodate 12 such missiles on two rotary launchers – or 6 in each compartment.