During the cold war, the erstwhile Soviet Union was a powerful adversary for the United States. The collapse of the Soviet state saw many projects wither away as the state that emerged from the ruins - Russia - had neither the manpower nor the money to keep projects alive. Things have changed with the arrival of Vladimir Putin. He is a man with global ambition and because of that, over the last decade, Russia has been becoming a formidable power. Defense World has reported that Russia has rolled out an advanced version of the old Soviet era bomber the Tu-22.

Known as the TU-22M3M, the plane will roll out on August 16. It is a supersonic bomber with a range of over 2300 miles.

New plane

The new plane is more lethal than the earlier version as it is armed with ship striking missiles. The Business Insider has reported that the plane will specifically target the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier fleet of the US Navy which has, in weeks past, sailed through the China Sea in a show of strength.

The plane traces its pedigree to the Soviet era and first flew in 1969. It was code-named "Black Jack" by NATO and has a massive payload of 2.4 tons with a speed of over Mach 2.3.

American carriers

Russia faces a significant threat from American carriers. In contrast, the Russians have only one carrier, the conventional Admiral Kutzenov.

This carrier is puny compared to the US carriers and in no way can be considered a threat. The Russians needed weaponry to possibly neutralize the US carrier fleet and this is now possible with the upgraded TU-22 bomber.

The upgraded Tu-22M3M focuses on modernizing the avionics, communications, and controls with deadlier missiles, and will play a significant role as a nuclear-capable maritime strike jet.

It will pose a serious threat to the US and Donald Trump will be planning his next move to counter this new weapon system of Russia.

Tu-22

The Tu-22M was designed to carry nuclear bombs as well as an air-launched ballistic missile. These could be released far away from the US coast and hence pose a credible threat to the US.

The older version of the bomber was used against the ISIS targets in Syria from bases in Iran.

It wreaked tremendous damage to the ISIS troops. But it's worth mentioning that the ISIS had no credible air defense against the TU -22 and, as such, it was more like a walk in the park. In a real-life war battle with the US, it won't likely be so simple.

Putin intention

Putin has made his intentions clear. He wants to take Russia back to the old days when the Soviet Union was a potent threat to the USA. One will have to wait and see how he goes about it. Weapons like the Tu-22M2M will certainly make that task easier. He has also deployed the latest SU-57 in Syria to show off Russian power.
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