KAZAN. July 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The first flight of the upgraded Tupolev Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber is scheduled for the second half of 2019, and the military will receive the first delivery of the upgraded combatant aircraft in 2022, Tupolev CEO Alexander Konyukhov told Interfax.
"The first flight of an advanced prototype of the upgraded Tu-160 will be held in the third or fourth quarter of 2019, and it is planned to deliver the first serial upgraded airplane of the Tupolev Tu-160M range to the Aerospace Forces in 2022," Konyukhov said during Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko's visit to the Kazan Aviation Plant.
"Step by step, all existing combat airplanes will undergo upgrading," Konyukhov said.
As reported earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Krivoruchko led a meeting on the plant's implementation of the state defense order on Thursday. He also assessed the production capacity of the plant, which is expected to produce a new long-range aircraft in the future.