Tupolev Tu-16

While many aircraft in Soviet service were retired after the Cold War ended, the Chinese license-built version Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberation Army Air Force, with the most modern variant, the H-6K, still being actively produced as of 2020[update].

[4] In the late 1940s, the Soviet Union was strongly committed to matching the United States in strategic bombing capability.

The Soviets' only long-range bomber at the time was Tupolev's Tu-4 "Bull", a reverse-engineered copy of the American B-29 Superfortress.

The development of the notably powerful Mikulin AM-3 turbojet led to the possibility of a large, jet-powered bomber.

Although the Tu-16 began as a high-altitude, free-fall bomber, in the mid-1950s, it was equipped to carry early Soviet cruise missiles.

These very large weapons were aerodynamically similar to the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter, fitted with either a nuclear or conventional warhead, having a range of about 140 km (85 mi).

Tu-16 bomber at the Monino Museum (1998)
Rear side view of a Tu-16 Badger reconnaissance variant (most likely a Tu-16R) c.1989
Egyptian Tu-16s c.1980
An F-8H Crusader of VF-13 escorts an Egyptian Tupolev Tu-16 in May 1969
Tu-16 Badger G with KSR-5 missile
Tu-16K-10-26 Badger C
Tu-16K-26 or Tu-16KSR-2-11-16, with KSR-5 missiles under wings (1998)
Current operators of the Tu-16/ H-6
Former operators
Indonesian Air Force Tu-16KS-1 1625 at Dirgantara Mandala Museum
Orthographic projection of the Tupolev Tu-16.
Orthographic projection of the Tupolev Tu-16.