Tupolev Tu-28

Tu-28

The Tupolev Tu-28 (NATO reporting name 'Fiddler') was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s as a long-range interceptor aircraft. Also known as the Tu-128, it remains the world's largest fighter aircraft.

History

In 1955 the PVO issued a specification for a long-range interceptor aircraft to defend the vast territory of the Soviet Union, which was so extensive that even with a far richer economy it would have been impossible to provide comprehensive land-based air defense. To provide the necessary range and ability to carry a powerful radar and air-to-air missiles, Tupolev developed an aircraft similar to the Tu-105 (Tu-22) bomber. The Tu-102 development aircraft first flew in 1959, with the initial operational version, the Tu-28P ('Fiddler-A'), entering production in 1963. This was replaced in production by the definitive Tu-128 ('Fiddler-B').

Based, like the Tu-22 bomber, on the unsuccessful Tu-98 supersonic bomber, it had a broad, low/mid-mounted swept wing carrying the main landing gear in wing-mounted pods, and slab tailplanes. Two Lyulka AL-21F-3 turbojet engines were mounted in the fuselage. Unlike the Tu-22, there is no internal weapon bay. Weapons were carried on wing pylons, with the fuselage used for enormous fuel tanks. The Tu-28P seated two crew in tandem, with separate canopies.

The Tu-102 had a ventral radar, but the production Tu-28P had a large nose radome for an I-band search radar, known as 'Smerch' (Tornado; (NATO reporting name 'Big Nose'), with a detection range of about 200 km (124 miles) and a lock-on range of about 80 km (50 miles). Despite the power of its radar, the aircraft was dependent on ground-control interception to vector pilots to their targets. In later years it often operated in partnership with Tu-126 AEW aircraft. As a pure interceptor the Tu-28P had almost no ECM or defensive avionics, not even a radar-warning receiver (RWR) like the smaller Sukhoi interceptors.

The Tu-28 was a pure interceptor, and with its high wing loading, unsophisticated avionics, and poor visibility, as well as its sheer mass, was doubtless not an agile aircraft. It was intended primarily to combat NATO bombers like the B-52, not to dogfight with smaller aircraft.

Armament of the Tu-28P was two Bisnovat R-4 air-to-air missiles (NATO reporting name AA-5 'Ash'), usually one R-4R with semi-active radar homing and one R-4T infrared-homing missile. Later Tu-128 had four missiles, with the SARH rounds on the outer pylons and the heat-seekers on the inners. Despite the obsolesence of these missiles, they apparently were never replaced by newer weapons.

Production of the Tu-128 ended around 1969. Total production was estimated at about 300, two-thirds of which remained in service into the 1980s. A small number of trainers were produced, probably designated Tu-128U, with an additional cockpit forward of the normal pilot's cockpit. The Tu-128 was gradually phased out in favor of newer aircraft like the MiG-31, although a few may have been retained as late as 1992. Upgrade projects, designated Tu-138 and Tu-148 by the design bureau, were abandoned before much progress was made.

The Tu-28's only publicly reported combat operation was destruction of NATO reconnaissance balloons, but, as interceptions of reconnaissance and spy missions were generally not reported, there may have been other incidents that have never been disclosed.

Users

* Soviet Union
** PVO

Specifications (Tu-128)

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