CIA-RDP96-00789R000300970001-2

SOVIET SARAMVed For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R00020997000162
Technology. - 15 aug 1988
There are two tail cones on the aircraft that
appear to be tail warning devices.
MIG-29 engine air intakes feature doors that close during takeoff and landing to prevent foreign
object ingestion. Engine air is taken in through louvers in upper surface of wing root leading edge.
As in the B-1B, each crew station has
individual ejection seats. The four
hatches can be seen from the outside.
The seats were not as comfortable as
those found in U. S. military aircraft,
but Fornell said that human engineer-
ing was evident in the rest of the cock-
pit. Sliding windows on either side of
the cockpit provided cool air during the
more than 15 min. Carlucci and Fornell
occupied it. Visibility from the cockpit
is reasonably good, according to For-
nell.
The Blackjack has a centrally mount-
ed control stick, as does the B-1B, rath-
er than a transport- or bomber-type
yoke. "The Soviets must have found
that it was better to provide their
Blackjack pilots with fighter-type con-
trols, rather than bomber controls,"
Fornell said.
The stick, which has a slightly differ-
ent grip from that of the B-1B, sits on
a pedestal slightly higher than the
U. S. bomber's. Each pilot has four
AA-10 Alamo long-range air-to-air missile (inboard pylon) and two AA-8 Aphid close-range infrared
air-to-air missiles shown mounted under the wing of a MIG-29 at Kubinka air base.
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throttleApproved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000300970001-2CHNOLOGY/August 15, 1988
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SG1A
SOVIApproxad Fer Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000300970001-2
Blackjack Shares Aspects
Of U. S. B-1B and XB-70
DAVID M. NORTH, JOHN D. MORROCCO/WASHINGTON
Soviet Blackjack bomber, with MIG-29 in fore-
ground, is shown at Kubinka air base, USSR.
The variable-sweep wing bomber, which fea-
tures a straight, highly tapered nose similar to
the Anglo-French Concorde's, is 177 ft. long
and has a fully extended wingspan of 182 ft.
T
The Soviet Blackjack bomber closely
resembles the U. S. Air Force B-1B
in its configuration as a strategic pene-
trator, but features the contours and
manufacturing smoothness of the ex-
perimental XB-70 built by North Amer-
ican Rockwell in the early 1960s,
according to a Defense Dept. official.
The Blackjack is similar in design and
layout to the Rockwell International B-
IB, but is closer in size to a Boeing B-52,
U. S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Gordon E.
Fornell told AVIATION WEEK & SPACE
TECHNOLOGY. The exterior skin of the
aircraft is far more aerodynamically clean
than most other Soviet aircraft, Fornell
said. Fornell, a graduate of the Air Force
test pilot training school at Edwards
AFB, Calif., was an observer of the XB-
70 program and has flown the B-1B.
U. S. Secretary of Defense Frank C.
Carlucci and Fornell, his senior military
aide, inspected one of the Soviet bomb-
ers during a visit to Kubinka air base, 40
mi. west of Moscow on Aug. 2 (AW&ST
Aug. 8, p. 14).
The Blackjack inspected by Fornell
and Carlucci was painted white with a
red star on the tail and had the number
12 stenciled on the crew hatch door on
the underside of the fuselage. It ap-
peared to be an early production version,
Fornell said. At least 11 bombers have
been produced and a number are opera-
tional in the Soviet air force.
INTERNAL WEAPONS BAYS
The Blackjack has two large internal
weapons bays, each of which can ac-
commodate six AS-15 air-launched
cruise missiles (ALCMs) or 12 short-
range attack missiles (SRAMs) on a ro-
tary launcher. The launcher in the
aircraft inspected by Carlucci and For-
nell was equipped with six ALCMs in
the forward bomb bay, which took up
two-thirds of its length. Fornell said
the launcher is very similar to the B-
1 B's.
The U. S. Air Force Strategic Air
Command's newest bomber, however,
each rotary launcher is capable of hold-
ing eight SRAMs each. The Blackjack
observed during the visit did not appear
to have an external weapons capability,
Fornell said.
Access to the cockpit is through a
large hatch on the underside of the fu-
selage forward of the bomb bays using
a separate support equipment platform,
Fornell said. The access to the aircraft
is unlike that on the B-1B, which has
its own electrically driven, self-con-
tained ladder (AW&ST Sept. 14, 1987,
p. 54).
There is a long corridor toward the
nose that passes through the avionics
bays on both sides for 10-15 ft. before
reaching the defense and offensive elec-
tronic system operator positions. As in
the B-1B, the crewmember positions are
on opposite sides of the aircraft. Fornell
was not allowed to linger in this area to
observe the electronic equipment.
The interior layout of the Blackjack
is similar to that of the B-1B, but is
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000300570007 2 and grey, Fornell said.
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/August 15. 198d
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SOVIET APPTOLed For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000300970001-2
The throttles have a round lollipop
grasp, rather than the molded grasp
found on the B-1B, Fornell said.
A manual selectable wing-sweep
mechanism, on the right side of both
the pilot and copilot, allows for settings
of 20-65 deg. The forward wing sweep
position on the B-1B is 15 deg., and it
has a similar, 65-deg. aft position.
As the wing is swept forward, Fornell
said, a triangular piece of the middle
portion of the wing raises. The resulting
3 × 3-ft. vertical tab or fence resembles
a winglet on the Gulfstream 3.
Flight instrumentation, displayed di-
rectly in front of the pilot and copilot,
is similar to that of the Collins FD-109
system found in many corporate air-
II-78 Midas aerial refueling tanker, photographed a Kubinka air base, became operational last year.
The tanker, a version of the Il-76 transport, will replace the M-4 Bison.
Close-up view shows drogue-type refueling pods on port side of rear fuselage of II-78 aerial
refueling tanker. The aircraft is equipped with three refueling pods.
craft. The aircraft symbol was dis-
played on the attitude indicator/flight
director, but there were no other visual
cues shown, Fornell said. There is a
large center console featuring engine in-
strumentation displayed in a vertical
tape format, similar to that favored by
the U. S. Air Force. There are very lim-
ited instrumentation and controls in the
cockpit overhead, and aircraft system
controls are located on the large center
console between the seats, Fornell said.
INSTRUMENT CONSOLE
A CRT display, mounted high on the
center instrument console, appeared to
be the caution and warning light panel,
Fornell said. There was no head-up dis-
play. A Soviet pilot who briefed Fornell
on the aircraft said there was no artifi-
cial presentation of the environment
outside the cockpit, but that the aircraft
did have a terrain-following capability.
Underneath the Blackjack's fuselage,
aft of the radome, is a chin-mounted
unit similar to that on McDonnell
Douglas RF-4s housing some kind of
electro-optical or infrared sensor, most
likely transmitted to the electronic war-
fare officers, Fornell said.
The engine inlet compartments on
the four-engine bomber feature splitters
on the divider between each intake,
with variable ramps on either side. For-
nell said they resembled those used on
the XP-70.
The Blackjack uses a fully movable
vertical tail for yaw control, rather than
the conventional rudder arrangement
found in most aircraft, especially those
with supersonic capabilities. The hori-
zontal stabilizers are mounted at the in-
tersection of the aircraft's dorsal and
main fins, slightly higher than the B-
1B's stabilizers. Fornell said he saw evi-
dence that the Soviets have been
changing the design and position of the
fully movable horizontal stabilizer. For-
nell could not determine whether the
Blackjack had conventional flight con-
trols or a more advanced fly-by-wire sys-
tem found on some advanced U. S.
aircraft.
INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTS
Soviet air force officials confirmed earli-
er U. S. intelligence assessments of the
aircraft's design and performance speci-
fications, including a gross weight of
590,000 lb. and an unrefueled combat
radius of 7,300 km. (3,930 naut. mi.).
The Soviet pilot who briefed Carlucci
and Fornell said that the aircraft did
not have an aerial refueling capability,
though U. S. intelligence has seen evi-
dence of a drogue-and-probe system,
with the probe located forward of the
bomber's cockpit. Fornell said it ap-
peared the Soviets were still sorting out
Mi-26 Halo heavy-lift helicopter, with eight-blade main rotor, can carry 85 comhat-equipped troops
or a maximurA preroded 4089 Release2000/08/0865 CIA-RDP96-60789R000300970004 42ocess for the aircraft. CI
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/August 15. 1988
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