Tu-135

In 1958, the Tupolev Design Bureau began initiative work on a strategic strike system. A similar project called M-56 was developed at Myasishchev Design Bureau . Work in the Tupolev Design Bureau was conducted under the leadership of S. M. Jaeger . Until the fall of 1960, exploratory research was conducted. Preliminary projects basically repeated the design options for the North American XB-70 Valkyrie .

Design

On October 3, 1960, the Myasishchev Design Bureau was transferred as a branch to the Chelomey Design Bureau and was relieved of work on the M-56 project. The Tupolev Design Bureau was to submit proposals for a long - range supersonic carrier aircraft and a long-range supersonic reconnaissance aircraft in three months. Serial production of the future aircraft was supposed to establish at the factory number 22 in Kazan . The project received the designation 135 aircraft in KB.

For five years, work was carried out on the selection of the main parameters of the system and the carrier aircraft, options for various aerodynamic schemes for various types of engines were considered. The project materials transferred from the Myasishchev Design Bureau were widely used in the work. The experience of creating the American project B-70 was studied. In 1962, L. L. Selyakov , one of the project managers of the Myasischev’s M-50, M-52 and M-56, was transferred to the Tupolev Design Bureau. It was supposed to entrust him with the development of the project "135".

The number of engines in various versions of the project ranged from four to six. Among others, the possibility of creating an aircraft with a nuclear power plant was also considered . We studied 14 aircraft models (of which six variants of the wing designs were tested at TsAGI ), more than a dozen engine layout options, five wing profile options, etc. As a result, the developers settled on the “Duck” scheme with a floating front horizontal tail , a triangular wing with variable sweep along the leading edge, one keel and two twin engine nacelles . Such a scheme provided high aerodynamic characteristics in various modes. The assumptions of the designers were confirmed by TsAGI research.

The aircraft’s weapons system was supposed to use cruise missiles and air-based ballistic missiles . It was supposed to use the latest achievements of Soviet radio electronics in the complex of navigation, flight and sighting equipment.

It was supposed to reach a maximum speed of 3000 km / h (2.82 Mach ) and cruising 2500-2650 km / h (2.35-2.5 Mach). This allowed the use of duralumin alloys, resorting to the use of heat-resistant materials only in the most loaded elements. It became possible to use familiar aviation materials and technologies and halve the time spent on design and production.

The power plant, consisting of NK-6 dual-circuit turbofan engines, made it possible to obtain a 10-20% longer flying range at supersonic and 30-40% at subsonic and mixed modes and the possibility of a long flight at low altitudes, compared to other engine options. In addition, the same engines and its main units were used in the Tu-22 2NK-6 and a number of civilian aircraft. The unification of engines reduced the costs of development and operation.

The version of the project accepted for implementation had a wing area of ​​400-450 m² and a take-off weight of 160-200 tons. It was supposed to achieve a practical range of 8 thousand km on a cruising supersonic (2650 km / h), a maximum range of 10 thousand km and with one refueling - 12 thousand km. At a speed of 920 km / h, the maximum range was to be 12-13 thousand km, with one refueling 14-15 thousand km, and when flying at low altitudes - 6 thousand km. In the passenger version, which was named "135P", the practical range of supersonic flight was to be 6500 km, which provided the possibility of non-stop flight from the USSR to the USA. For operation at airfields with a ground coating or weak concrete coating, the aircraft had to be equipped with a multi-wheeled or ski-wheeled chassis .

Estimated Terms of

The project involved the creation of a multi-purpose system on the basis of one aircraft to solve a wide range of operational and strategic tasks:

• Search and destruction of aircraft carrier formations , transport vessels and convoys. For this, the aircraft was armed with 2-4 cruise or ballistic missiles with a range of 500-600 km. The radius of action was to be 5 thousand km, and with refueling - 6 thousand.
• Search and destruction of missile launch vehicles and strategic missile submarines at distances exceeding the launch range of their missiles. In this case, the aircraft had to have a time of barrage at a distance of 2 thousand km - 8 hours, at 3 thousand km - 5.5 hours, at 4 thousand - 2.7 hours. The aircraft was supposed to have a search-strike, anti-ship and anti-submarine system based on cruise and ballistic missiles, anti-submarine bombs and torpedoes .
• Violation or disruption of military transport. For this, the 135th was equipped with a radar station and armed with 4-6 air-to-air missiles . The time of barrage in this case was equal to that for the previous task. Information about the departure of potential targets would come from a satellite reconnaissance system .
• Aerial, radar, radio engineering, photographic and special reconnaissance at supersonic within a radius of 5 thousand km, with refueling - up to 6500 km, at subsonic speed - 6-6.5 thousand and 7-7.5 thousand km. In order to increase the radius of action, effectiveness and resistance to air defense , it was supposed to suspend a reconnaissance aircraft under the aircraft.
• The defeat of small strategic goals, which are under the guise of powerful air defense and missile defense systems with flight to and from the target in areas of their operation at low altitudes. In this case, the radius of action was to be 3 thousand km, the aircraft was armed with two cruise or ballistic missiles with a range of 150-350 km and nuclear bombs .
• The defeat of strategic goals at ranges up to 7.5 thousand km. For these purposes, the aircraft could use ballistic missiles with a range of 4 thousand km. The last task was considered as auxiliary.

Strategic for the aircraft were the tasks of delivering a second strike and striking at small well-defended targets (mines of intercontinental ballistic missiles , underground control and supply centers). The versatility of the system allowed to reduce the costs of its creation and operation.

Collapse a project

N. S. Khrushchev took a course to curtail promising aviation work in favor of ICBMs. Without directly prohibiting the further development of the project, he proposed to increase the cruising speed to 3000 km / h. At the same time, the Sukhoi Design Bureau (which began to develop the T-4 project) and Yakovlev ( Yak-35 ) received the assignment for a single-mode aircraft to combat aircraft carrier groups.

In July 1962, the project was criticized due to the large take-off weight (190 tons) and low cruising speed (2500 km / h instead of 3000). Tupolev replied that from the point of view of cost savings it is advisable to build one type of Tu-135 aircraft, which is capable of solving strategic tasks and long-range aviation tasks, with a radius of 3-3.5 thousand km. At the same time, at this range, a decrease in speed to 2500 km / h instead of 3000 increases the flight time by only 12 minutes. The 135th could carry 4-6 missiles instead of two in the designs of P. O. Sukhoi and A. S. Yakovlev .

In September of that year, the results should have been summed up. Tupolev, realizing that the project will be withdrawn from the competition, instructed his design bureau to prepare for participation in it the Tu-125 , which was developed to replace the Tu-22 . But the Tu-125 council did not pass the competition due to lack of development.

In December 1963, the development of the project was suspended in favor of the T-4, and by the mid-1960s it was finally phased out. The main reasons were:

• Air Force abandonment of a single-mode strategic carrier aircraft in favor of a multi-mode universal carrier with variable sweep of the wing (similar processes occurred in the USA - they abandoned the B-70 and began work on the B-1 project);
• structural and technological difficulties in the creation;
• high cost of the system.

Many technical solutions created during the work on the project were used in subsequent designs of the Design Bureau, for example, in the Tu-22M and Tu-160 .

• Length - 50.7 m;
• Height - 10.7 m;
• Wingspan - 34.8 m;
• Wing area - 417 m²;
• Takeoff weight - 175—205 tons;

Powerplant

• The number of engines - 4;
• Engine - DTRDF NK-6;
• Maximum take-off thrust of the engine - 23500 kgf;

Flight performance

• Flight speed:
  • cruising - 2650 km / h (2.5 M);
  • maximum - 3,000 km / h (2.82 M);
• Practical ceiling - 19000-22000 m;
• Practical range:
  • supersonic (2650 km / h) - 7800-8000 km;
  • maximum - 10,000 km;
  • with one refueling - 12,000 km;
  • subsonic (920 km / h) - 12000-13000 km;
  • with one refueling - 14000-15000 km;
  • at low altitudes - 6000 km;
• The practical range with the Kh-22 missile is 4400 km;
• Takeoff run - 1800 m;

Armament

• Cruise missiles:
  • X-22 - 4-6 pcs.;
  • X-45 - 2-4 pcs.;
• Ballistic missiles - 2-4 pcs.;
• Air-to-air missiles - 4-6 pcs.

• Tu-135 (neopr.) . airwar.ru. Date of treatment September 6, 2018.
• "135" (Tu-135) supersonic strategic bomber (neopr.) . alternathistory.com . Date of treatment September 6, 2018.