Tupolev Tu-95

A Russian strategic bomber that has been around since the cold war. Its biggest competitor is the B-52 stratofortress which is also still in service with the US military and will remain so until the 2040s or even 2050s. The most distinct features of the Tu-95 are its set of four huge contra-rotating propellers and swept-back wings. Each engine has a total of eight blades, four turning anticlockwise and the other four clockwise. With four engines, that's a total of 32 blades. Whilst a few people say that it is not as advanced or as stealthy (its propellers are so loud that submarines can hear it from underwater!) as some other bombers like the B-2, B-21, B-1, Tu-22M3 or Tu-160, there is no denying the Tu-95 can really deliver. It will probably remain in service until the 2040s. Its NATO reporting name is 'Bear'. It also dropped the tsar bomba and its sister aircraft is the Tu-142, a maritime patrol variant.

The Tupolev Tu-95 fortunately was never utilised to its fullest extent as other aircraft during the Cold War period as it can carry the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful hydrogen bomb at the time. It also operated as a surveillance aircraft along the USSR coast. But due its aging systems, numerous modernisations are needed to keep the bomber updated, using cruise missiles and going away with “dumb” bombs, and adding a radar station at the nose of the plane. Despite its age, it still operates today. One outcome of the soviets being unable to build a jet engine with the same performance and fuel efficiency of the western world is they instead created the most powerful turboprop engine ever, the NK-12, powering the Tu-95, at 15000 horsepower, since they found turboprops more fuel efficient than jet engines and used them to power their aircraft including the Tu-95.

Tupolev Tu-95 by iPhone=Airbus, Samsung=Boeing May 29, 2026