Today the first newly manufactured Tu-160M made its first flight from the airfield at Kazan Aviation Factory (KAPO). The flight took place at an altitude of 600 meters and lasted about 30 minutes.
The decision on reactivating Tu-160 production was taken back in 2015. Up to that point KAPO had only completed a few unfinished frames built in Soviet times, and the project was a huge undertaking. It was necessary to digitalize tooling/documentation, restore the vacuum welding technology for titanium and create a supply chain.
According to the managing director of Tupolev, Vadim Korolev, 40% of equipment in KAPO was upgraded.
In 2018 the Russian Defense Ministry signed a contract for 10 aircraft, with deliveries until 2027. The cost was 160,000 million rubles (2,844 million $), which is about 284 million $ for each Tu-160M. It remains to be seen if the covid crisis affects deliveries.
The total cost of the project, 50 aircraft, is 900,000 million rubles ($16,000 million $, of which 37,000 (657 million $) will be invested in KAPO.
References:
- https://www.uacrussia.ru/ru/p
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