Ukraine's Lost Strategic Bomber Fleet

[Music] when ukraine became an independent nation in 1991 in the wake of the dissolution of the soviet union it found itself in the position of being a nuclear-armed state with conventional strategic strike capabilities as well owing to the particular soviet forces that it inherited however holding one third of the soviet union's nuclear weapons as well as the means of designing and producing them did not sit well with the west the united states in particular was keen that ukraine and all other former soviet republics that had inherited nuclear weapons give them up as part of the 1994 treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons russia being the only post-soviet nation to retain a nuclear deterrent in due course 1700 ukrainian warheads were scrapped obviously some commentators have raised the obvious point in light of recent ongoing events that the present war would never have occurred if ukraine had remained a nuclear power but there is also the counter-argument that ukraine couldn't afford to maintain such a force which was one of the reasons why such nations were persuaded to give them up however ukraine also lost as part of its denuclearization its strategic bomber capability that it also inherited from the ussr used to deliver both nuclear and conventional cruise missiles and bombs onto long-range targets on land and at sea ukraine initially operated three cold war bomber types that would have proven useful in the present conflict ukraine used to possess 60 tupolev tu-22m backfire bombers 17 of the tu-22m2 variant and 43 tu-22m3s along with 423 kh-22 cruise missiles [Music] the tupelev tu-22 entered soviet service in 1972 and is a supersonic variable sweep wing long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber the soviets use them primarily to attack shipping at long range and today the russian air force still has about 70 in service the russians have used them offensively they have performed air strikes in chechnya in 1995 andrew in the 2008 russia georgian war one aircraft being shot down by a ground-based missile in 2013 backfires conducted a simulated attack on sweden the swedish air force failing to respond and subsequently have flown several more nuisance missions around sweden in syria in 2015-17 backfires made many attacks firing air launch cruise missiles from the mediterranean were actually flying bomber raids from iran still a very capable plane the airframes have been progressively modernized and updated the tu-22m3 version of the backfire has a crew of four the maximum speed of just under 2 000 kilometers an hour or 1 241 miles per hour mach 1.88 with a typical load combat radius of two and a half thousand kilometers or sixteen hundred miles hauling ten tons of ordnance it can carry up to twenty four tons of ordnance from cruise missiles to sea mines and various free-fall bombs the ukrainian air force operated the type between 1991 and 2006 until under the terms of the nun luger cooperative threat reduction named after the two u.s senators behind this legislation the aircraft and all their cruise missiles were scrapped the last in january 2006. four aircraft survived today as museum examples in ukraine the kh-22 cruise missiles ukraine scrapping all 423 on strength is a large long-range cruise missile produced since 1962 it has an effective range of 600 kilometers or 320 nautical miles at mac 4.6 delivering a 1 000 kilo or 2200 pound warhead if ukraine had retained these aircraft and missiles perhaps russia's black sea fleet would have been unable to operate close in shore as it has been doing of late off the coast of ukraine perhaps russia retains the backfire as it has long-range maritime strike capabilities the second strategic bomber type the ukrainians gave up was the tupelev tu-160 blackjack called the white swan by soviet crews it's another supersonic variable sweep wing heavy strategic bomber that first entered service in 1987. as i mentioned in a previous video russia currently has 16 updated versions in service with 10 more on order the blackjack is a large aircraft with a crew of four it's the fastest bomber currently in service anywhere in the world with a top speed of 2220 kilometers an hour or 1380 miles per hour that is mach 2.05 it has a practical range without in-flight refueling of 2000 kilometers or 1200 miles and can carry 45 tons of ordnance primarily 12 kh-55 cruise missiles the ukrainian air force inherited 19 blackjacks in 1991 which considering only 39 have so far been built was an impressive force but as per the nun luger agreement in 1999 ukraine gave eight the best airframes to russia in exchange for gas debt relief and the remainder bar one in the museum of long range and strategic aviation in poltava ukraine was scrapped the agreement between russia and ukraine saw russia purchase not only eight blackjacks and three tupelev 95 bear bombers but ukraine's entire stock of 575 kh 55 sm cruise missiles for 285 million dollars this value being deducted from ukraine's debt for natural gas it is not beyond the realms of possibility that ex-ukrainian air force blackjacks and missiles have subsequently been used by russia against ukraine in the 2022 war for example russian blackjacks launched cruise missiles at the ukrainian city of venezia in april if ukraine still had a force of modernized blackjacks it would have been able to attack using cruise missiles targets deep inside russia helping to further russia's offensive capabilities or put another way if ukraine still had blackjacks and backfires and their accompanying cruise missiles they may have provided a deterrent against russian aggression in the first place perhaps the third aircraft type given up by the ukrainians was the one i've just mentioned as part of the gas depth relief deal the tupelev tu-95 known to nato as the bear bomber a large four engine turboprop powered strategic bomber and missile platform [Music] the bear entered soviet service way back in 1956 it was one of the oldest aircraft still serving with any air force in the world russia keeps the type in service as a long-range reconnaissance aircraft often loitering around the edges of british airspace and the airspaces of other nato nations but it has seen action in syria launching cruise missiles from long range russia currently has 55 in service with a crew of six to seven it has a maximum speed of 925 kilometers an hour or 575 miles per hour and a cruising range of 000 kilometers or 9 300 miles and can carry a very large amount of bombs on missiles including eight cruise missiles on wing pylons ukraine had between 23 and 29 bear bombers the three best tu-95-m's and 589 kh-55 cruise missiles went as i noted to russia in the 1999 blackjack bomber deal the remainder save for one museum preserved aircraft were all scrapped again though dated the bear still has a role to play in modern warfare and together with the backfires and blackjacks ukraine gave up a considerable strategic bomber capability the fact that russia was keen to acquire ukrainian aircraft and keep squadrons of each type in service in 2022 is proof enough of these old aircraft still being useful and potent today thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,006,008

Keywords: Mark Felton, War in Ukraine, Tu-22M, Tu-160, Tu-95 Bear, Nuclear weapons, Russian Air Force, Soviet Union

Id: 75o9EyrjvDY

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 05 2022