The Tu-160

The Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber was manufactured by the Tupolev Aircraft Research and Engineering Complex Joint Stock Company in Moscow and the Kazan based Gorbunov Aircraft Production Association in Tatarstan from 1980 to 1992. Production has since been restarted and a Tu-160 was delivered to the Russian Air Force in May 2000.

The purpose of the aircraft is the delivery of nuclear and conventional weapons deep in continental theatres of operation. The aircraft has all-weather day-and-night capability and can operate at all geographical latitudes. The aircraft has an operational range of 14,000km and a service ceiling of 16,000m. The maximum flight speed is 2,000kph at high altitude and 1,030kph at low altitude.

The bomber's airframe has a distinctive appearance, with the wing and fuselage gradually integrated into a single-piece configuration. The airframe structure is based on a titanium beam. Throughout the entire airframe, all the main airframe members are secured to the titanium beam.

The variable geometry outer tapered wings sweep back from 20 to 65 degrees in order to provide high-performance flight characteristics at both supersonic and subsonic speeds. The tail surfaces, both horizontal and vertical, are one piece and all-moving.

The aircraft uses fly-by-wire controls.

The aircraft is equipped with three-strut landing gear, a tail wheel and a brake parachute. For take-off the aircraft requires a concrete runway of 3,050m.

The crew of the Tu-160 comprises a pilot and co-pilot, a navigator, and an operator. The four crew members are equipped with ejection seats, which provide the crew with the option of ejecting safely throughout the entire range of altitudes and air speeds, including when the aircraft is parked.

In the cockpit and cabins, all the data is presented on conventional electro-mechanical indicators and monitors. The Tu-160 has a control stick for flight control as used in a fighter aircraft - rather than control wheels or yokes, which are usually used in large transporter or bomber aircraft.

The Tu-160 can carry nuclear and conventional weapons including long-range missiles. The missiles are accommodated on multi-station launchers in each of the two weapons bays.

The aircraft is highly computerized and the avionics systems include an integrated aiming, navigation and flight control system with a navigation and attack radar, an electronic countermeasures system, and automatic controls.

The aircraft propulsion system consists of four NK-32 augmented turbofan engines, each provides maximum thrust of 25,000kg. The engines are installed in two pods under the shoulders of the wing. The bomber has an in-flight refueling system. In the inoperative position the refueling probe is retracted into the nose of the fuselage in front of the pilot's cabin. The aircraft fuel capacity is 160,000kg.

MiG-29

The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a fighter aircraft designed for the air superiority role in the Soviet Union. Developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau, it entered service in 1983 and remains in use by the Russian Air Force as well as in many other nations.

The MiG-29 is aerodynamically broadly similar to the Sukhoi Su-27, but with some notable differences. It is built largely out of aluminium with some composite materials. It has a mid-mounted swept wing with blended leading-edge root extensions (LERXs) swept at around 40°. There are swept tailplanes and two vertical fins, mounted on booms outboard of the engines. Automatic slats are mounted on the leading edges of the wings; they are four-segment on early models and five-segment on some later variants. On the trailing edge, there are maneuvering flaps and wingtip ailerons.

The MiG-29 has hydraulic controls and a three-axis autopilot but, unlike the Su-27, does not have a fly-by-wire control system. Nonetheless, it is very agile, with excellent instantaneous and sustained turn performance, high alpha capability, and a general resistance to spins. The controls have "soft" limiters to prevent the pilot from exceeding the g and alpha limits, but these can be disabled manually.

The MiG-29 has two widely spaced Klimov RD-33 turbofan engines, each rated at 50.0 kN. The space between the engines generates lift, thereby reducing effective wing loading, to improve maneuverability. The engines are fed through wedge-type intakes fitted under the LERXs, which have variable ramps to allow high-Mach speeds. As an adaptation to rough-field operations, they can be closed completely for takeoff, landing and low-speed flying, thereby preventing ingestion of ground debris.

The internal fuel capacity of the original MiG-29B is only 4,365 liters distributed between six fuel tanks, four in the fuselage and one in each wing. As a result, the aircraft has a very limited range in line with the original Soviet requirements for a point-defense fighter. For longer flights, this can be supplemented by a 1,500 liter drop tank carried on the centerline and, on later production batches, by two underwing drop tanks, each capable of 1,150 liters. In addition, a small number of MiG-29s have been fitted with port-side inflight refueling probes, allowing much longer flight times by using a probe-and-drogue system.

The pilot is seated on a Zvezda K-36DM zero-zero ejection seat which has had impressive performance in emergency escapes.

The cockpit has conventional dials, with a head-up display (HUD) and a Shchel-3UM helmet-mounted sight, but no HOTAS ("hands-on-throttle-and-stick") capability.

Mig-35

The Mikoyan MiG-35 is a mature development of the MiG-29M/M2 and MiG-29K/KUB technology.

The main features of the new design are the fifth generation information-sighting systems, compatibility Russian and foreign origin weapons application and integrated a variety of defence system to increase combat survivability. Overall design subverts the design concept of the baseline model and enables the new aircraft to conduct full scale of multi role missions as their western counterparts.

New avionics are intend to allow the aircraft to retain air superiority against fourth and fifth generation fighters, as well as to perform all weather precise ground strike, air reconnaissance with optical-electronic and radio-technical equipment, and conduct complex join missions.

The airframe also took advantages from previous developments of the MiG-29K/KUB, MiG-29M/M2. The new aircraft has more weight load on nine pylons, further increase in fuel capacity, anti-corrosion protection, significant reduced in radar signature, and a quadruple redundancy fly-by-wire control system.

Reliability measures are being enforced in the new design. The airframe lifetime and service life are extended, introduced new engines with longer mean time between overhauls, hence result a decrease in flight hour cost at almost 2.5 times in compare to those of the old variants. On-condition maintenance is being practice in the new design concept. New smokeless engine also offer a better concealing feature.

The RD-33MK is the latest revised version of the RD-33 and was intend to power the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB. It has a 7% higher horsepower in comparison with the baseline model due to the usage of modern materials on the cooled blades, hence provide a higher thrust at 9,000 kgf. New engines are smokeless and also contain systems that reduce infrared and optical visibility.

New modification includes active electronically scanned array radar and introduced an optical complex, consisting of the newly designed Optical Locator System (OLS) to replace previous IRST sensor, additional OLS under the right air intake and one pair of laser emission detectors on each wing tip.

The new airborne AESA radar offers a wider range of operating frequencies thus provide more endurance against electronic countermeasures (ECM), more detection range, more quantity of air and ground targets simultaneously to be detected, tracked and make possible to conduct engagement on them.

The OLS, a breaking development from space technologies incorporates the helmet-mounted target designation system provides targeting solutions for both ground and air targets at front and rear hemisphere of the aircraft. The most vital different from the previous IRST sensor is that the new device provide not only a better operation range, but also offers a manual adjustable graphic options of IR view, TV mode and mix of both, significantly improved device-user coordination.

The aircraft is designed to be compatible with foreign avionics and weapon systems.

KA-50

The Kamov Ka-50 Black Shark is a single-seat Russian attack helicopter with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s and adopted for service in the Russian army in 1995.

The Ka-50 is unique as an attack helicopter in that it is the world's first and only single seat attack helicopter, the first coaxial attack helicopter, and the first attack helicopter with zero-zero ejection seat.

The Ka-50 was designed to be small, fast, and agile to improve survivability and lethality. For minimal weight and size (thus maximal speed and agility) it was designed uniquely to be operated by a single pilot only.

Like other Kamov's helicopters, it features Kamov's characteristic contra-rotating co-axial rotor system, which removes the need for the entire tail-rotor assembly and improves the aircraft's aerobatic qualities - it can perform loops, rolls, and “the funnel” where the aircraft maintains a line-of-sight to target while flying circles of varying altitude, elevation, and airspeed around it. Using two rotors means that a smaller rotor with slower moving rotor tips can be used compared to a single rotor design. The elimination of the tail rotor is a qualitative advantage because the torque-countering tail rotor can waste up to 30% of engine power.

The Ka-50 was the first helicopter fitted with an ejector seat for improved pilot survivability; this was also seen as a psychological factor enhancing the pilot's combat courage. Before the rocket in the K-37-800 ejection seat kicks in, rotor blades are blown away by explosive charges in the rotor disc and the canopy is similarly jettisoned.

The aircraft carries a substantial load of weapons in four external hardpoints under the stub wings plus two on the wingtips, a total of some 2,300 kg depending on the mix.

The main armament are the twelve laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of some 10 km. The laser guidance is reported to be virtually jam-proof and the system features automatic guidance to target enabling evasive movement immediately after missile launch. The fire control system automatically shares all target information among the four Black Sharks of a typical flight in real time, allowing one helicopter to engage a target spotted by another, and the system also can input target information from ground-based forward scouts with man-portable target designation gear. The integrated 30mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The aircraft's agility allows the weapon control system to turn (the entire helicopter and) the cannon at the target acquired in the pilot's helmet sight.