Previous efforts Andrei Tupolev's OKB-156 had successfully reverse engineered the
Boeing B-29 Superfortress into the
Tupolev Tu-4, while their suggestions to create a more advanced design were ignored as they fell from favour. In 1953, Stalin created OKB-23 under the direction of
Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev to build new long-range bomber designs, forming the bureaus by picking designers out of Tupolev's OKB-156. OKB-23 began development of the four-engined
Myasishchev M-4 intercontinental jet bomber. To keep themselves in the bomber field, OKB-156 designed their own entry for a jet-powered bomber, the twin-engined
Tupolev Tu-16 medium bomber. They were aware that the range of the design would not be enough to fill the intercontinental role of the M-4, and for this mission, they also proposed the four-turboprop
Tupolev Tu-95. Ultimately neither the M-4 nor Tu-16 met their range requirements, leaving only the Tu-95 really able to carry out attacks against the US, with more limited performance. The M-4 was built only in small numbers, while the Tu-16 had much more widespread uses in a variety of roles.
Supersonic replacements All of these aircraft were still being introduced when the State Committee for Aviation Technology (soon to become the Ministry of Aircraft Production, or MAP) announced a contest for
supersonic designs that would replace all previous designs. Tupolev's chief designer, Sergey Mikhailovitch Yeger, was determined not to lose to Myasishchev once again. They quickly proposed a new design,
Samolyot 103 (Plane 103). This was essentially a Tu-16 with four much more powerful engines, either Dobrynin VD-7s or Mikulin AM-13s. However, experience on the experimental
Samolyot 98 tactical bomber design suggested that the 103 would not have supersonic performance. They decided to start over with a blank-sheet design. After considering many possible solutions from
TsAGI, Yeger eventually settled on what became
Samolyot 105 in 1954. Among its features was the selection of a single pilot with no copilot, which allowed the cockpit to be narrower, as only one person had to be seated forward to see the runway. This had positive political aspects as it reduced crew size to three. Myasishchev was also working to fulfill the requirement with his much larger
Myasishchev M-50. It was designed to have intercontinental range, filling the role for which the M-4 was intended. Both the Tupolev and Myasishchev designs were approved for prototype production in 1954. At the time, supersonic aerodynamics were still in their infancy, as were the engines that would power the designs. By this point, three engine models were being considered for the 105: the VD-5, the VD-7, and the new Kuznetsov NK-6. Of the three, the NK-6 offered the best performance, but was still in the initial stages of development. As the engines possibly would not meet their goals and leave the 105 underpowered, much attention was spent on cleaning up the aerodynamics to reach the required speed. This was notable in the design of the wing and landing gear, which were designed to be as "clean" as possible, with the main wheels retracting into the fuselage to allow the wing to be thinner. Around the same time,
LII wind tunnel experiments revealed a tendency for aircraft to pitch up around Mach 1. This led to the decision to move the engines from the wing roots, as in the Tu-16, to an unconventional external tail-mounted position, on either side of the vertical stabilizer. This location also reduced drag and inlet losses. The wings were highly
swept, between 52 and 55° to give little
drag at
transonic speeds, which led to poor take-off performance and high landing speeds.
Prototypes The first prototype 105 was completed and shipped to the Flight Test and Development Base at
Zhukovsky in August 1957. It flew for the first time on 21 June 1958, flown by test pilot Yuri Alasheev. Initial flights quickly demonstrated that the design had neither the speed nor range that was expected. Around this time, TsAGI read KGB intelligence reports about the
area rule for minimizing
transonic aerodynamic drag, and this design was applied to 105. A key problem was that the wing root was too thick to properly exploit this effect and to further thin it, a new landing-gear design was introduced, along with several more changes to the layout of the cabin and tail areas. The result of all of these changes was the
105A, which first flew on 7 September 1959. Serial production of 20 examples was issued around this time, even before testing had completed. The first serial-production
Tu-22B bomber, built by Factory No. 22 at
Kazan, flew on 22 September 1960, and the type was presented to the public in the
Tushino Aviation Day parade on 9 July 1961, with a flypast of 10 aircraft. It initially received the
NATO reporting name '
Bullshot', which was deemed to be inappropriate, then '
Beauty', which was deemed to be too complimentary, and finally '
Blinder'. Soviet crews called it "
shilo" (awl) because of its shape.
Into service The Tu-22 entered service in 1962, but it experienced a considerable number of problems, resulting in widespread unserviceability and several crashes. Amongst its many faults was a tendency for
aerodynamic heating of the aircraft skin at supersonic speed, distorting the control rods and causing poor handling. The landing speed was greater than of the previous bombers and the Tu-22 had a tendency to pitch up and
strike its tail on landing – though this problem was eventually resolved with the addition of electronic stabilization aids. Even after some of its problems had been resolved, the Blinder was not easy to fly, and was maintenance-intensive. Among its unpleasant characteristics was a wing design that allowed
aileron reversal at high speeds. When the stick had been neutralized following such an event, the deformation of the wing did not necessarily disappear, but could persist and result in an almost uncontrollable aircraft. Pilots for the first Tu-22 squadrons were selected from the ranks of "First Class" Tu-16 pilots, which made transition into the new aircraft difficult, as the Tu-16 had a co-pilot, and many of the "elite" Tu-16 pilots selected had become accustomed to allowing their co-pilots to handle all the flight operations of the Tu-16 except for take-offs and landings. As a consequence, Tu-16 pilots transitioning to the single-pilot Tu-22 suddenly found themselves having to perform all the piloting tasks, and in a much more complicated cockpit environment. Many, if not most, of these pilots were unable to complete their training for this reason. Eventually, pilots were selected from the ranks of the
Su-17 "Fitter" crews, and these pilots made the transition with less difficulty.
Variants By the time the Tu-22B (Blinder-A) entered service, its operational usefulness had been found to be limited. Despite its speed, it was inferior to the Tu-16 with respect to combat radius, weapon load, and serviceability. Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev believed that
ballistic missiles were the way of the future, and bombers like the Tu-22 were in danger of cancellation. As a result, only 15 (some sources say 20) Tu-22Bs were built. The
Strategic Rocket Forces was created in 1959, while the Tu-22 was being introduced. Soviet efforts to build long-range
ballistic missiles intensified. Tupolev, along with other project backers, understood that manned bombers were falling out of favor as a means of delivering nuclear weapons. To save the program, Tupolev proposed a long-range
aerial reconnaissance version of the aircraft, which could be modified in the field to return it to a bombing role. The resulting combat-capable Tu-22R (Blinder-C) entered service in 1962. The Tu-22R could be fitted with an
aerial refueling probe that was subsequently fitted to most Tu-22s, expanding their radius of operation; 127 Tu-22Rs were built, 62 of which went to
Soviet Naval Aviation for
maritime patrol use. Some of these aircraft were stripped of their cameras and sensor packs and sold for export as Tu-22Bs, although in other respects, they apparently remained more comparable to the Tu-22R than to the early-production Tu-22Bs. A trainer version of the Blinder, the
Tu-22U (Blinder-D), was fielded at the same time; it had a raised second cockpit for an instructor pilot. The Tu-22U had no tail guns, and was not combat-capable; 46 were produced. To deploy the brand new
Kh-22 (AS-4 Kitchen) anti-ship missile, a new aircraft had to be used, as the Tu-95 was too slow, and the Tu-16 could not carry it, thanks to its weight. Because of this, the Tu-22 was developed as a missile carrier, the
Tu-22K (Blinder-B). It first entered service in December 1968, with 76 built between 1965 and 1969. The Tu-22K had the ability to carry a single Kh-22 in a modified weapons bay. It was deployed both by
Long Range Aviation and Naval Aviation. The last Tu-22 subtype was the
Tu-22P (Blinder-E)
electronic warfare version, initially used for
electronic intelligence gathering. Some were converted to serve as stand-off
electronic countermeasure jammers to support Tu-22K missile carriers. One squadron was usually allocated to each Tu-22 regiment. The Tu-22 was upgraded in service with more powerful engines, in-flight refueling (for those aircraft that did not initially have it), and better electronics. The -D suffix (for
Dalni, long-range) denotes aircraft fitted for
aerial refueling. Tu-22s were exported to Iraq and Libya during the 1970s. An Egyptian request was refused as a result of Soviet objections to the
Yom Kippur War. ==Design==