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The Tupolev Tu-95 ( NATO reporting name Bear) is the most successful Tupolev strategic bomber and missile carrier from the times of the Soviet Union. The Bear was powered by four turboprop engines, each driving contra-rotating propellers, and remains one of the fastest propeller-driven aircraft ever built.

It served as a base of multiple modifications for various purposes. For a long time, the Tu-95 was known to Western intelligence as the Tu-20. While this was, in fact, the original Soviet Air Force designation for the aircraft, by the time it was being supplied to operational units, it was already better known under the Tu-95 designation used internally by Tupolev and the Tu-20 designation fell out of use. Since the Tu-20 designation was used on many documents stolen by Western intelligence agents, the name continued to be in use there.

1 Specifications (Tu-95MS)

1.1 General Characteristics

• Crew: seven - two pilots, one tailgunner, four others
• Length: 49.50 m (162 ft 5 in)
• Wingspan: 51.10 m (167 ft 8 in)
• Height: 12.12 m (39 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 310 m² (3,330 ft²)
• Empty: 90,000 kg (198,415 lb)
• Loaded: kg ( lb)
• Maximum takeoff: 188,000 kg (414,470 lb)
• Powerplant: 4x Kuznetsov NK-12 MV turboprops, 11,033 kW (14,795 shp) each

1.2 Performance

• Maximum speed: 925 km/h (575 mph)
• Range: 15,000 km (9,375 miles)
• Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
• Rate of climb: 600 m/min (1,968 ft/min)
• Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
• Power/Mass: kW/kg ( hp/lb)

1.3 Armament

• 1x or 2x AM-23 23 mm cannon in tail turret
• up to 15,000 kg (33,000 lb) of stores, including the Kh-20 , Kh-22, Kh-26 , and Kh-55 air-to-surface missiles

2 Related content

Related development:

Comparable aircraft:

Designation sequence (Tupolev):

Tu-95 -

Designation sequence (Soviet Air Force):

Tu-20 -