Russian nuclear-capable TU-160 bombers deployed near US border
10182 Mins Read
Russia announced it had flown two nuclear-capable TU-160 bombers to a far eastern Russian region opposite Alaska as part of a training exercise that state media said showed Moscow’s ability to park nuclear arms on the United States’ doorstep.
The Tupolev TU-160 strategic bomber, nicknamed the White Swan in Russia and Blackjack by NATO, is a supersonic Soviet-era aircraft capable of carrying up to 12 short-range nuclear missiles and of flying 12,000 km non-stop without refueling.
The flight comes amid heightened tensions over arms control between Moscow and Washington. The United States withdrew from a landmark nuclear missile pact with Russia this month after determining that Moscow was violating that treaty, an accusation the Kremlin denied.
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow said on Wednesday that another arms treaty, the last major nuclear pact between Russia and the United States, was outdated and flawed and could be scrapped when it expires in 2021 and replaced with something else.
And on Tuesday, the Kremlin boasted that it was winning the race to develop new cutting-edge nuclear weapons despite a mysterious rocket accident last week in northern Russia that killed at least five people and caused a brief spike in radiation levels.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the planes had covered a distance of over 6,000 km in over eight hours from their home base in western Russia to deploy in Anadyr in the Chuktoka region which faces Alaska.
It said the flight was part of a tactical exercise that would last until the end of this week and was designed to rehearse the air force’s ability to rebase to operational air fields and to practice air-to-air refueling.
Russian media said that the flight showed Moscow’s ability to base nuclear bombers within 20 minutes flight time from the United States, which it said was just over 600 km away.
The defense ministry said a total of around 10 TU-160 bombers and TU-95MS and IL-78 planes were involved in the exercise, suggesting it covered other areas too.
