In the publication The Drive, the new production engines NK-32-02 of the Russian strategic bomber Tu-160M are named the world's most powerful power units for combat aircraft.
“The NK-32, installed in the original Tu-160, is widely regarded as the most powerful combat aircraft engine in the world, developing over 55,000 pounds of thrust at full afterburner,” the American newspaper writes.
According to The Drive, the NK-32-02 will increase the range of the Tu-160 by 1,000 kilometers. “The lack of engines was a serious obstacle to Moscow's ambitious plans to resume production of the Tu-160, which was originally stopped in 1994,” the newspaper recalls.
In November, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced that the Tu-160M strategic bomber took off for the first time with the new production NK-32-02 engines.
In February, the modernized Tu-160M bomber took to the skies for the first time. The test flight lasted 34 minutes at an altitude of 1.5 kilometers. Then the corresponding video was published by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The fact that the specialists of the Kazan Aviation Plant assembled the first modernized Tu-160M became known in November 2019. The updated model should go into mass production in 2021, and in the same year it will be supplied to the troops.
