First flight of Tupolev Tu-160

The Tupolev Tu-160 is a Soviet-designed supersonic strategic bomber with variable-sweep wings, known in NATO as Blackjack. It was developed in response to the American B-1 program and made its first flight at the Zhukovsky test center near Moscow. It is the largest and heaviest combat aircraft of its kind ever built, able to carry cruise missiles and other weapons over intercontinental distances at speeds above Mach 2. It entered service in the late 1980s, and only a limited number were built before the Soviet Union dissolved. Some aircraft that ended up in Ukraine were scrapped or sold back to Russia, and Russia later resumed production in a modernized version, the Tu-160M.

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