The Tu-22M3: The Russian Bomber the World Truly Fears

By Charlie Gao,The National Interest

Recently, the Tu-22M3 bomber has been the face of the Russian air force all over the world. Betweendropping bombs over Syria to patrolling airspace over Japan, the Tu-22M3 has also been receiving a series of upgrades. These upgrades allow for greater bombing accuracy with conventional weapons, as well as the capability to fire new Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCM). One of these upgrades may change how the Tu-22M3 is controlled under the New START treaty. It may finally be considered a strategic “heavy” bomber.

The status of the Tu-22M has long been under debate in the U.S. intelligence community. Back in 1971, when the Tu-22M first became known to the United States, the mission of the new Soviet bomber as unknown. Range estimates of the new bomber would allow it to attack the United States, albeit with air refueling. This would allow it to act in a strategic strike role. The Soviets maintained that the Tu-22M was not used for this role as it did not possess true intercontinental range, it would be used for attack and naval defense only on the periphery of the Soviet Union. This was even written into the aborted SALT-II treaty, the U.S. delegation wanted the Tu-22M not to be equipped with an air refueling system of any kind.

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This changed in the early 1980s with the test of ALCMs on the Tu-22M. The addition of these missiles, which could be shot from ranges of around 3,000 km lead the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies to again believe that the Tu-22M would be used in an intercontinental strike capability. However, with the fall of the Soviet Union and START I in 1991, the Soviet side swore off any capability that would allow the Tu-22M to operate at intercontinental range, with the acknowledgment that the Tu-22M would not be considered a “heavy bomber” (eg. one of strategic importance) under START. This is the current assumption that is held under the New START treaty that was ratified in 2010 and expected to hold until 2021—only Tu-160 “Blackjack” and Tu-95 “Bear” bombers are listed in the START aggregate arms table.