What is known about the downed Tu-22M3, which repeatedly attacked the port infrastructure of Odesa
19.04.2024 - 11:11
Today, April 19, Ukrainian soldiers for the first time destroyed a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber – a carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles.
Oleh Kiper , the head of Odesa Regional Military Administration, said that on the morning of April 19, Russian terrorists targeted the region’s critical infrastructure — they tried to hit it with X-22 missiles from Tu-22M3 aircraft.
Already later, from the message of the commander of the Air Force Mykola Oleschuk, it became known that the Ukrainian defenders managed to destroy one of the Tu-22M3 and two X-22 missiles. Oleschuk noted that Ukraine needs more equipment and missiles to better protect the frontline territories from Russian terrorism.
X-22 missiles were actively used by the Russians in July of last year for attacks on the port infrastructure of Odesa. So, on July 19 and 20, 2023, Tu-22M3 aircraft were fired at the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk by X-22 — then the enemy hit the oil and grain terminals, which caused a fire.
What is known about the Tu-22M3
The Tu-22M3 strategic bomber is a Soviet long-range supersonic missile-carrying bomber with variable wing geometry. It is intended for the destruction of sea and land targets with cruise missiles, aerial bombs, in particular with nuclear warheads.
The aircraft has been in operation since 1974, the main armament of the bomber is the X-22N anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile with a light high-explosive cumulative warhead, which is capable of making a hole in the ship of 22 square meters. m and up to 12 m deep.
From the very beginning of operation, the plane had constant problems due to engineering imperfections, which is why Russian pilots still die very often.
In 2018, the Russian Federation created a modernized version of this aircraft – the Tu-22M3M. It is worth noting that Russia used Tu-22M3 bombers in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Chechnya, in Georgia, and now in the war against Ukraine.
Previously, USM also talked about whether Russia could be brought to justice for war crimes at sea.
