Russian Tu-160 Bombers Launch First Ever Strike on Ukraine: Why Now?

The Russian Aerospace Forces have for the first time deployed <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/tu160-13-hour-nato-north-mig31" target="_blank">Tu-160 strategic bombers</a> for sorties against Ukrainian targets, marking the first ever combat sorties flown by aircraft against a state adversary. Russia’s two classes of intercontinental range strategic bomber the Tu-160 and Tu-95 both first saw combat in 2015 launching air strikes against jihadist militants in Syria to support Syrian government counterinsurgency efforts. Although the Tu-95 has been <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/tu95-launch-mass-cruise-missile-strike-ukraine" target="_blank">employed extensively</a> to launch missile strikes against Ukrainian targets from early 2022, the Tu-160 previously was not. This may have been due to its higher operational costs and much smaller numbers, which led the Aerospace Forces to seek to conserve the fleet. It remains uncertain what targets the Tu-160s engaged in its first combat operation of the war, although they reportedly fired Kh-101 cruise missiles with advanced radar evading capabilities. Increasingly advanced variants of the missile have been seen in use since full scale hostilities between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February 2022, including variants with decoys to better evade interception. Russian industry has had very considerable successes both in expanding the scale of Kh-101 production to several times pre-war levels, and in lower in the missile’s costs due largely to the benefits of economies of scale.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/16/article_68502f28042566_16205176.jpeg" title="Tu-160 with Belarusian Air Force Su-30SM Escort">The decision to employ the Tu-160 for combat operations may have been influenced by the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/how-damaged-russian-bomber-ukraine-drone-attack">significant losses</a> suffered by the Tu-95 fleet, which came under <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-most-successful-strike-russian-bomber-bases">intense drone attacks</a>&nbsp;across multiple bases under the Ukrainian SBU’s Operation Spider’s Web on June 1. It is estimated that at least ten percent of the fleet of 60 Tu-95 bombers were destroyed in the operation, with losses disproportionately affecting operational aircraft. The employment of the Tu-160 may thus be a result of shortages of Tu-95s, or could represent a show of resolve that the bomber fleet remains resilient and ready to be used to respond to escalation. Despite the Tu-160’s prior lack of participation in hostilities, Ukrainian forces have launched multiple attempted strikes on the bomber class’ primary operating facility, Engels-2 Airbase, the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-successful-attack-russia-bomber-facility">most recent</a> of which caused a major fire on June 6. A portion of the fleet was <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-redeploys-scarce-tu160-6600km-sustained-attacks">subsequently redeployed</a> to&nbsp; Anadyr Airbase, one of the easternmost points on the Asian continent, which a number of analysts speculated was influenced by the need to protect the aircraft at a time of escalated attacks on bomber bases.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/16/article_68502f89f28a14_60574418.jpeg" title="Tu-160 Bombers at Engels-2 Airbase">The Tu-160 is currently the only class of intercontinental range bomber in production worldwide, with production of the American B-2 having ended in 2000, while the new <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/usaf-retire-b52-finance-b21-stealth" target="_blank">American B-21</a> and <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/bigger-than-b21-first-look-china-massive-stealth-bomber" target="_blank">Chinese H-20</a> have yet to enter production. Losses among the Tu-95 fleet have increased pressure on Russian industry to accelerate production of the newer bomber class, with the first Tu-160 built in&nbsp;post-Soviet&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;having <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-first-post-soviet-bomber-tu160" >made its first flight&nbsp;</a>in January 2022, after which production was&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/boosting-tu160m-bombers-70strong" >reported in January 2023&nbsp;</a>to be set to undergo significant expansion. The possibility of further delays to the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-attack-accelerate-pakda-bomber" target="_blank">development of the PAK DA</a> next generation stealth bomber, which is already close to a decade behind schedule, could lead the production run of the Tu-160 to be expanded to enlarge the fleet beyond the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/boosting-tu160m-bombers-70strong" target="_blank" >currently planned 70 bombers</a>. The Tu-160 is expected to continue to be incrementally modernised well into the 2050s and beyond, with the aircraft’s armaments suite likely to be the primary area where its capabilities are bolstered. An air-launched variant of the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/first-look-zircon-hypersonic-cruise-missile" target="_blank" >Zircon hypersonic cruise missile</a>&nbsp;is among the weaponry reportedly planned for integration. In the immediate future, the intensity of Tu-160 operations to support the Russian war effort in the Ukrainian theatre is likely to be influenced by the state of the Tu-95MS fleet, and the rate at which both older Tu-95 airframes can be modernised and the number of flightworthy airframes restored.&nbsp;