Tu-160 Blackjack
ICAO T160The largest and heaviest combat aircraft ever built. Live Tu-160 Blackjack positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No Tu-160 Blackjack is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Tupolev
- Role
- Strategic bomber
- Class
- L4J — Landplane, 4 jet engines
- Crew
- 4
- First flight
- 18 December 1981
- In service
- 1987
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the Tu-160 Blackjack
The Tu-160 is the biggest combat aircraft anyone has flown: heavier than a B-1, faster, and with a longer range. It is a swing-wing supersonic bomber, and Russia restarted limited production of a modernised version after concluding that nothing else could do the job.
Its public appearances are deliberate. Long-range patrols toward the North Sea, the Norwegian coast and the North Atlantic are flown partly to be noticed, and are routinely intercepted and photographed by NATO fighters.
It will rarely show here. Russian strategic aviation does not transmit ADS-B, and the aircraft are usually first reported by the air forces that intercept them.
Callsign prefixes
- RFF
- Russian Federation Air Force
How to recognise it
- —Enormous, white, and shaped like a scaled-up B-1 with a variable-geometry wing.
- —Four engines in two pairs under the fuselage centre section.
- —A pointed nose and a very long blended body — around 54 metres.
Common questions
+ Is the Tu-160 bigger than the B-1?
Considerably. It is about a third heavier at maximum weight, longer, and faster at altitude. It is the largest and heaviest combat aircraft ever to enter service.
+ Is Russia still building Tu-160s?
Yes, at a very low rate. Production of a modernised Tu-160M restarted after 2015, mostly by completing airframes begun in the Soviet era.
+ Why is it called Blackjack?
That is its NATO reporting name. Russia calls it the Belyi Lebed, the White Swan, after its colour and shape.