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A Tu-142 of the Russian Navy. | |
Role | Maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft |
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National origin | Soviet UnionRussia |
Design group | Tupolev |
Built by | Kuibyshev Aviation PlantTaganrog Machinery Plant |
First flight | 18 July 1968 |
Introduction | December 1972 |
Retired | 2017 (India) |
Status | Out of production, in service |
Primary users | Russian Navy Soviet Navy (historical) Indian Naval Air Arm (historical) |
Produced | 1968–1994 |
Number built | 100 |
Developed from | Tupolev Tu-95 |
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In the late 1950s the US Navy developed the UGM-27 Polaris, a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a range of more of than 1,800 kilometres (1,000 nm). They had test-fired rocket boosters to perfect the design, culminating in the first underwater launch of a ballistic missile by USS George Washington on 20 July 1960. Polaris became operational on 15 November that year, when the George Washington left Charleston, South Carolina, with a complement of nuclear-armed Polaris missiles.
The Soviet government consequently ordered Tupolev and other aircraft design bureaus to study possible dedicated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) designs. Tupolev initially designed the Tu-95PLO (protivolodochnaya oborona, or ASW), a development of the Tu-95 equipped with sonobuoys, anti-submarine mines and torpedoes. It was to carry a 9,000 kg (19,841 lb) payload with a maximum loiter time of 10.5 hours. The design was dropped, however, because it lacked a powerful radar, thermal imaging (infrared) system and magnetic anomaly detector (MAD). On 28 February 1963, the Council of Ministers (the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union) issued a directive to Tupolev requiring his bureau to develop a long-range ASW aircraft.[
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Developed in response to the American Polaris programme, the Tu-142 grew out of the need for a viable Soviet ASW platform. It succeeded the failed Tu-95PLO project,
In October 2020 ALROSA, the last Russian passenger airline to operate this aircraft, retired its last remaining Tu-154
A new target acquisition system dubbed Korshun-K, the cornerstone of which was the Korshun (Kite) radar, was installed on all subsequent Tu-142s.