Article Posted on : - Jul 30, 2010

Tupolev Tu-95MS.

MOSCOW (BNS): Two Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS (NATO code: Bear-H) have recently established a new record for non-stop flight.

According to a RIA Novosti news report, Tu-95 strategic bombers carried out a 40-hour patrol over three oceans.

"The crew of the Tu-95MS bombers flew over the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans and set a new flight duration record of about 40 hours, exceeding the previous record by four hours," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik was quoted as saying in the news report.

Drik added that the crews practiced instrumental flight and carried out four in-flight refuelings from Ilyushin Il-78 aerial tankers.

Tu-95MS is a large, four-engine turboprop powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Its distinct engines, each with two counter-rotating propellers, also make the Bear the fastest propeller-driven airplane ever built.