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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1901.PDF
TU-95MS BEAR During the Cold War the Bear became part of folklore (right); a pair of Tornados provide an escort for a Tu-95 Bear (middle); the cockpit is surprisingly cramped (bottom) F or years during the Cold War, the only sight that Western air forces had of their potential Communist enemy was the long-range prob ing flights of the Soviet Union's Dal'nyaya Aviatsiya — the DA long-range aviation force — usually in the shape of the mighty Tupolev Tu-95 Bear. The Bear assumed a folklore of its own within the Western fighter community, tasked with intercepting, identifying and escorting out of area the "unknown" radar returns, code named Zombies. Most Zom bie flights were intercepted by the air forces of the UK and Norway in the West and by Japan in the East, but the wide- ranging Bears were also picked up off Alaska, Cuba and even off Cape Town. The Tu-95 was first flown in 1954 and has been built in numerous versions. The original Bear fuselage was from the Tu-85, a development of the Tu-4 Bull (a Boeing B-29 Superfortress copy). The Tu-85, the Russian answer to the US Consolidated B-36, never went into production, as the Russians decided to proceed to turbojet and turboprop swept-wing designs. This decision culminated in the four-jet Myasischev Mya-4 Bison and the turbo prop-powered Tu-95 Bear. Most Bear variants retained the two pressurised forward and aft crew compart ments, linked by an airlock tunnel which ran over the free-fall weapons bay. The Tu-95MS Bear H, which joined the International Air Tattoo at Fairford, UK, on 21 July, does not have this feature. The crew compartment extends aft to a point level with the wing leading edge, followed by an avionics bay, after which is the weapons bay for six cruise missiles on a rotary launcher. The total weapons fit for the Tu-95MS, which went into production in 1984, is 16 AS-15A/B Kent cruise missiles, six in the weapons bay and five each on a pair of multiple-ejector under- wing pylons. Aft of the weapons bay is a second avionics bay, which doubles as a The first Westerner to fly with the Russian air force's long-range aviation force, Mike Gaines describes the famous Tupolev Tu-95 Bear. BEAR Flight engineer Weapons Pilot / Escape/entry hatch y Commander Radio I Weapons/tactical operator I navigation Chemical toilet Tupolev Tu-95MS crew layout crew baggage compartment. The rear gunner enters his tail turret by a ventral hatch and, except for intercom, is isolated from the rest of the crew. TOADSTOOL NAVIGATION Entry to the cockpit/crew Qabin is by ladder to a ventral hatch in .„th'e.; nose- wheel bay. Despite the Bear's missive size overall, the cabin is surprisingly'veramped, but anyone familiar with the Avro Shack- leton would feel instantly at home. Between the two pilots' seats is a hatch below the fire/feather-control panel. This is used to give access to -the navigator's position in the glazed nose of earlier Bears, but the 95MS has a large ground- mapping/weapons-aiming radar in the nose. A curtain now covers access to some of the radar's line-replaceable units. Each pilot has four throttles mounted outboard and, in between, is a centrally pivoted autopilot control box, mounted on a swinging arm and passed to which ever pilot is in control during the cruise. Behind the aircraft commander (left seat) and facing astern (as do all other crewmen) is the radio operator, who has a keyboard on which to compile enci phered messages for burst transmission, but who also has a conventional Morse- code key for HF communications. Opposite the radio operator sits the flight engineer, fac ing a panel of engine and systems instru ments. The engineer also has a set of Navigation plotter throttles and is responsible for engine handling on take-off and landing. In the cruise, the engineer ensures that the four Kuznetsov NK-12 engines and their massive sets of contra-rotating pro pellers are synchronised. Aft of the radioman (portside) sits the navigator, responsible for weapons aiming and who also handles the defensive elec- tronic-countermeasures suite and operates the rear-facing and gun-directing Box Tail radar. The defensive suite has two missile- approach warners, semi-balls mounted above and below the fuselage with a 360° field of regard. This navigator is also responsible for monitoring the Toad Stool terrain-following radar, mounted just below the flight-refuelling probe. The Bear H also has a ventrally aft-mounted terrain- bounce jammer, which emits a flood of radar signals to bounce off the ground to create general noise and clutter on the radars of attacking aircraft. Seated centrally at the rear on a raised seat is another navigator, who has a plotting table surmounted by a scope for the Clam Pipe ground-mapping/target- acquisition radar in the "platypus-beak" radome. The 300mm Clam Pipe screen is topped by a first-generation inertial navi gation system, which looks like a 1950s- vintage jukebox The Clam Pipe gives a clear picture of ground features, and shipping is easily discernible, with very little sea clutter (the water was calm, however). If a target is selected, its range and bearing is displayed on screen in numbers about 30mm high. A sector scan of about 35° takes about 6s to traverse. Behind the engineer's position is a small galley, with a water heater and provisions storage space and, behind that, a spare 26 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 August, 1993
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