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).