Early designs turboprops, which drive
contra-rotating AV-60N propellers.|alt=Sideview of aircraft in-flight powered by turboprops, whose huge propellers are apparent. In the late 1950s the
US Navy developed the
UGM-27 Polaris, a
submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a range of more of than (). They had test-fired
rocket boosters to perfect the design, culminating in the first underwater launch of a
ballistic missile by
USS George Washington on . Polaris became operational on that year, when the
George Washington left
Charleston,
South Carolina, with a complement of nuclear-armed Polaris missiles. The
Soviet government consequently ordered
Tupolev and other aircraft
design bureaus to study possible dedicated
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) designs. Tupolev initially designed the
Tu-95PLO (
protivolodochnaya oborona, or ASW), a development of the Tu-95 equipped with
sonobuoys,
anti-submarine mines and
torpedoes. It was to carry a () payload with a maximum loiter time of . The design was dropped, however, because it lacked a powerful
radar,
thermal imaging (infrared) system and
magnetic anomaly detector (MAD). The resultant design was named Tu-142 and had features in common with the Tu-95RT. The ventral and dorsal
gun turrets were removed, as was the large
dielectric radome housing the Uspeh radar system, which was replaced by a thermal imaging system located in a smaller fairing. The aircraft's search-and-targeting system featured
Berkut (Golden Eagle) . The first Tu-142 (construction number 4200) was built at the in
Samara. It performed its
first flight on , with
test pilot at the controls, taking off from
Zhukovsky Airfield southeast of
Moscow. Early testing indicated that the
fuselage needed to be lengthened by at least to accommodate new combat equipment. Therefore, the second prototype (c/n 4201) joined the
flight-test programme on 3 September with a front fuselage stretch, a modification found on all subsequent Tu-142s. In May 1970, the
Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF) – the air arm of the
Soviet Navy – began receiving production Tu-142s for operational trials.
Variants During early operations, the Tu-142 revealed several shortcomings. The aircraft's rough-field capability was found to be of limited use, so the 12-wheel bogies used on the first 12 of 36 aircraft were replaced with four-wheel reinforced bogies from the
Tu-114 airliner; consequently, the wheel-wells in the
engine nacelle were made slimmer. These changes, along with the deletion of the thermal imaging system and parts of the
electronic countermeasure (ECM) equipment, reduced the empty weight by . In the early 1970s, production of Tu-142s was switched to the near the
Black Sea. It has been speculated that the change to the idle plant was to give employment to the workers there. from VP-45 (March 1986)|alt=Two aircraft in-flight. One a twin-prop aircraft in the foreground, another is a larger four-prop aircraft with swept-back wings. As the 1970s progressed, silencing technology in submarines rendered acoustic-band sonobuoys and trigger devices ineffective. During 1961 and 1962, the Soviet Union conducted
research and development into an explosive sound system (ESS) – used to locate deep-diving submarines – under the name
Udar (Blow). In 1965, work had started on sonobuoy systems using ESS to be integrated with the
Berkut radar. The programme was postponed when one of the aircraft intended to carry it, the
Ilyushin Il-38, was found to be incompatible. The developments instead resulted in the
Udar-75, which was featured in a new search and targeting system (STS) of the Taganrog-built Tu-142Ms. A new target acquisition system dubbed
Korshun-K, the cornerstone of which was the
Korshun (
Kite) radar, was installed on all subsequent Tu-142s. This system was used for detecting surfaced and submerged submarines, communicating with other ASW aircraft and ground bases, and performing navigational and tactical tasks. The first three Tu-142Ms were the first aircraft to be equipped with this system, and thus were redesignated
Tu-142MK . It was the first Tu-142 to feature a MAD, its MMS-106 Ladoga system being mounted in an aft-facing fairing atop the
vertical stabiliser.
Technological upgrades Even as the Tu-142MK entered service, its
Korshun-K STS was already becoming obsolete. Work began on yet another improved Tu-142, resulting in the Tu-142M3 with the
Korshun-KN-N STS. This consisted of
Nashatyr-Nefrit (Ammonia/Jade) ASW avionics, which included the
Zarechye sonar system. As well as the RGB-1A and RGB-2 buoys of the
Berkut, the Tu-142M3 was compatible with the RGB-16 and RGB-26 buoys. When working with the ASW avionics, these buoys provided 50% greater coverage. This variant was distinguished from earlier "Bear Fs" by the chin fairings housing several antennas. Test results proved excellent, as the aircraft successfully tracked nuclear-powered submarines of the
Northern and
Pacific Fleets. The aircraft replaced the
Ilyushin Il-80 in the airborne
command and control role. Tu-142s are currently operated by the 76th Naval Aviation Regiment from
Kipelovo. Russian maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) Tupolev Tu-142M3/MR ('Bear F/J') of the Northern Fleet are being equipped with datalinks to enable them to receive targeting feeds from Russian Naval Aviation Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Forpost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). (2019) ==Operational history==