(Mike) wrote in message . com...
Remember the Soviet "Blackjack" bomber that the U.S.S.R. started to
deploy in the late 1980s?

Wasn't this plane a virtual copy of the American B-1 in many ways?

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft...60/index.shtml
Though the Tu-160 bears a remarkable resemblance to the American B-1
bomber, the Blackjack is far larger, being the world's largest combat
aircraft. The cockpit contains joysticks similar to those in fighters,
but the Tu-160 does not have any electronic Heads-Up-Displays (HUDs)
like most western aircraft.

What about it's range? Could the BlackJack bomber have taken off in
the Soviet Union and bombed the United States?

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/bomber/tu-160.htm
Range
14.000 km (with a load of 9.000kg)
10.500 km (with a load of 40.000 kg)

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/tu160/
The Tu-16 is capable of carrying the strategic cruise missile Kh-55MS,
which is known in the West by the NATO designation and codename AS-15
Kent.
....
The maximum range is 3,000km, and it is armed with a 200-kiloton
nuclear warhead.

-HJC