Tupolev: configuration of Tu-160M2 bomber will be defined by the year-end

Configuration of the new version of Tu-160 strategic bomber will be defined by the end of 2015, Tupolev Company CEO Nikolai Savitskikh told RIA Novosti at MAKS-2015 international airshow.

This spring Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu ordered to resume the production of Tu-160 aircraft. According to the Ministry of Defense, Tu-160M2 will be a brand-new aircraft fitted with new equipment.

“We have already prepared our proposals, they are being refined. We are preparing a technical description; the configuration should be defined by the year-end,” Savitskikh said at MAKS-2015 international airshow.

Commander-in-Chief of the long-range aviation, Lieutenant General, Anatoly Zhikharev, said that the first stage of Tu-160 upgrade is in progress; the second stage will follow. Work on Tu-160M2 and PAK DA bombers is also underway; research and development work in the network of PAK DA project will be started after 2021.