Back in battery…

HIGHLY recommend any of William Aprill’s classes. Excellent speaker, breaks things down where everyone can understand it, and has no problem calling BS on things that don’t make sense.

In other news, this is a rather ‘interesting’ development that somebody got a shot of…

Tu-95 Bear MS loaded with 8 KH101(ASCM), NOT something I’ve ever seen before.

The 5300lb KH-101/102 (400 kg conventional warhead/450 kT nuclear warhead) has a range of 2,800–3,400 mi. The first use was from an SU-34 fighter dropping ONE of these against the Syrians in 2015. That is a LOT of weight and firepower to hang on a Bear….

With accurate Nav systems it is predicted to have, this could be a game changer…

Comments

Back in battery… — 22 Comments

  1. Nope. The delivery platform is antiquated in every way, BUT it is NOT to be dismissed, no way. So many ways a TU-95 Bear could prosecute it’s mission profile successfully, pretty much only two or three to cross the ‘circle of success’, which is that circular mission line that is drawn, from base, to successful missile launch to target, SAC has the same.

  2. Maybe a new or upgraded wing spar design in there, for that loading? An antiquated but reliable, sturdy platform can cause a lot of surprises with new loadouts. This could change games or play hell with the ‘expected’ results.

    There’s a reason for the Tomcat/Phoenix combination. But as we all Know, peace and peace dividends are forever (hah).

  3. Long range air defense needs to be a thing. These missiles aren’t fast, and don’t dodge.

    You just need to see them coming, and have something with a useful range to engage them, at anywhere between 20,000 and 50 feet above the deck.

      • They are rather effective.

        But there are exactly two air defense battalions left in the US Army. There appear to be 55 Bears left in service.

  4. What are the black extensions rearward on the inboard engines? Could be for the landing gear?

  5. Gosh, those very old girls has as many patch’s as our B-52E’s had years ago !!!

  6. That’s an interesting load-out. I don’t know how easily the KH101s can be spoofed electronically. Of course, you’d have to know that they’re coming to do that (or to just shoot them down).

  7. It’s… Russian. Trust nothing about their claims as they still tend to make used-car salesman claims about their stuff.

    Like the latest killer tank that only three exist and are only seen on trailers.

    Could be a game changer, but the Russkies are good at faking threats. Which we, unfortunately, have to believe at some level and respond to, just in case.

    As said above, long-range air defense is a needful thing. We lost a lot of capability in Navy Air when the Tomcat-Phoenix wasn’t continued with the Super-Tomcat and Phoenix upgrades. (Yes, what we did to the Hornet to make a super-hornet was also planned to the Tomcat. Newer next-gen engines, rewinging with composites, advanced electronics, whole nine yards, even a reported super-cruise capability. Dagnabit!)

  8. Stu/PK/McC/Bill- Good points all, and the KH-101/2 profile is low 50-70meters off the deck… sigh…

    Cedreq/SPQR- Yep, Main gear is in those pylons.

    Woody- Yep, they’re keeping them ‘alive’ by hook and crook!

    LL- It’ll be hard. They don’t really ‘need’ much for nav.

    Beans- Good points, but we don’t HAVE anything that patrols out to 3100 miles, at least not carrier based.

  9. I’m not convinced it isn’t a Photoshop loadout, the shadows on the missile mounts and the missiles themselves don’t look right.

    • I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it looks photoshopped.
      Those outboard stbd missiles don’t look parallel to the line of flight in addition to the lack of shadows.

  10. I have a great deal of respect for the TU-95. True, you can hear it coming a hundred miles away, but … they’ve been flying a long time. Like a certain other aircraft of similar mission and age…

  11. “If it ain’t broke …”
    Bloody things could be picked up on the SOSUS grid and the Icelandic seismic grid.

  12. I leave it to the many experts who read your blog. will say this, never discount the Russians. Doesn’t men we live in fear; just on guard.

  13. Hey Old NFO;

    Welcome back, and I don’t discount the Bears, the Soviets/Russians don’t throw nothing away. I think they still have “Firecan” radars in storage.

  14. Are you sure it’s not photoshopped? Speaking of which, saw a B52 coming in over Shreveport the other month. Impressive!

  15. All- Thanks for the comments! Rick- I’m not sure, as I don’t know the full history of the pic…

    Posted from my iPhone.

  16. Thank goodness the Clintons saw to it that the Russians got ahold of GPS technology to upgrade their weapons loadouts!

    Say, what happens to those things when GPS is degraded?
    Oopski.