The bomber will take off from a normal home airfield to patrol Russian airspace and upon command it will ascend into outer space, strike a target with nuclear warheads and then return to its home base, Lieutenant Colonel Aleksei Solodovnikov was quoted to have said by the news agency.
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“The unit’s operational ability had been proven”, he said, according to USA news site Observer.
Combining both jet and rocket technology, the aircraft has the potential to revolutionise hypersonic flight and make accessing space much more affordable.
‘We are cooperating with Russia’s Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute on the design of an airframe and the aircraft’s characteristics.
Judging by recent developments, a lot has changed.
The academy is developing a hypersonic strategic bomber capable of striking with nuclear warheads from outer space, Solodvnikov said. The engine’s projected speed will allow the bomber to reach any point on Earth in under two hours.
The Russian stealth bomber will reportedly burn traditional kerosene fuel while flying in Earth’s atmosphere, although it will run on methane and oxygen while in space – which explains how it would be able to fly in an atmosphere where air isn’t exactly in ready availability.
The Sputnik news story reports on the experimental engine in connection with the scenario of a space plane that fires nuclear bombs. “Perhaps I am rushing things-and some issues may arise-but by 2020 we should have a fully-functioning product”.
The plane itself is similar to the US Air Force’s reusable Boeing X-37 (X-37B) robotic mini-shuttle, which is sort of a miniature, remote-controlled version of the International Space Station. “The aircraft is to fly in 2020”, the specialists said, adding that the aircraft will have a turbofan engine.
This new class of aerospace engine is created to enable aircraft to operate from standstill on the runway to speeds of over five times the speed of sound in the atmosphere.
Russian Federation has not had this kind of engine before, Solodovnikov added.
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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced in spring that domestic aircraft manufacturers had started developing a sixth-generation combat plane.
