Russia isn’t able to build a super bomber. There’s a new missile instead

For years, Russia has been announcing a new generation „long-range” (read: strategic) bomber, which was to be developed under the PAK DA (Perspektivnyy aviatsionnyy kompleks dal’ney aviatsii – Prospective Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation) programme. The programme was named analogously to the PAK FA fighter programme, which ended in relative success—the mass-produced Su-57 fighter.

However, while creating a „pseudo-fifth” generation fighter based on the experience of the Su-27 aircraft family (with the added prospect of export) was still within Moscow’s reach, building a completely new, next-generation bomber superior to the Tu-160 remains a pipe dream. This is especially true for a state that is not only unable to produce the Tu-160 but also struggles with far more modest programmes.

RUSI points out that current Russian bombers, in order to prepare for a nuclear strike on NATO, would have to be readied at Russia’s European bases: Engels-2 and Olenya. This (including the movement of vehicles between nuclear weapon storage sites and bomber bases) would be immediately recognised by the Alliance, and the bombers would likely be destroyed before taking to the skies with their lethal payload.

Meanwhile, the new Kh-BD cruise missile, with a declared range of 6,500 km (for comparison, the Kh-101 has a range of approximately 3,500 km), would allow bombers to be prepared deep within Russian territory, at bases less vulnerable to attack and not monitored by NATO to such an extent. Consequently, the Kh-BD is significantly larger than the infamous Kh-101, and Russian sources claim that only the Tu-160 family of bombers will be able to carry it.