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Tu-128 at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino, Russia | |
Role | Interceptor |
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Manufacturer | Voronezh Aircraft Production Association |
Design group | Tupolev |
First flight | 18 March 1961 |
Introduction | 1964[1] (or 1966[2]) |
Retired | 1990 |
Primary user | Soviet Air Defence Forces |
Number built | 198[1] (including 10 trainers) |
Developed from | Tupolev Tu-98 |
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Iosif Nezval of Tupolev Design Bureau led development of the new interceptor aircraft. The work began in 1958, based on an existing single prototype of the unsuccessful Tu-98 supersonic bomber. The military designation of the interceptor was at first Tu-28, but it was changed in 1963 to Tu-128, identical to the designation used by the OKB.
The Tu-128 had a broad, low/mid-mounted swept wing carrying the main landing gear in wing-mounted pods, and slab tailplanes. Two Lyulka AL-7F-2 turbojet engines were mounted in the fuselage. The two-man crew of pilot and navigator were seated in tandem.
The Tu-128, with its maximum weight of 43 tonnes, was the heaviest fighter to enter service. A pure interceptor with high wing loading, unsophisticated but reliable avionics, and poor visibility, it was not an agile aircraft and was intended only to engage NATO bombers like the B-52, not dogfight smaller aircraft.
Ceiling
Combat RANGE
Aircraft Speed
Max Crew
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Between 1970 and December 2016 there were 110 serious incidents involving the Tu-154, including 73 hull losses,
with 2,911 fatalities.
In October 2020 ALROSA, the last Russian passenger airline to operate this aircraft, retired its last remaining Tu-154
In January 2010 Russian flag carrier Aeroflot announced the retirement of its Tu-154 fleet after 40 years, with the last scheduled flight being Aeroflot Flight 736 from Yekaterinburg to Moscow on 31 December 2009.