Why have the Soviets/Russians never bothered to develop air-to-air refueling capability? Yes, I know that an Ilyushin tanker prototype recently flew, but that puts them about 70 years behind US and British technology. It seems odd that since one of the MiG-21’s major failings was its super-short legs, they never bothered to allow it to refuel in flight.
Did the Soviets always assume their maximum missions would be 45 minutes long? Or am I missing some important Soviet aircraft that did have refueling capability?
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th July 2018 at 14:06
Tanker versions of the TU-16 Badger and the M-4 Bison were flying in the early 1960’s. Il-76 and 78 in the 1970’s. Not even close to “never bothered” or “70 years behind”.
As Graham points out The MiG-21 was originally built as a point based interceptor. Point based interceptors were not designed for long range/endurance. Maximum performance, especially climb, were emphasized. This results in a small, light interceptor. MiG-23 followed this philosophy, with maximum speed being a key parameter.
By: Graham Boak - 25th July 2018 at 10:43
Tu-16 Badgers had IFR before Bears, and became the standard tanker. Early work had been done on Tu-4s, although memory does not tell me whether this went into production (I doubt it, but maybe). Don’t rely upon the lack of probes – early Russian IFR methods didn’t use probes into baskets but required linking tip-to-tip, requiring connection to a trailing hose.
As for the MiG-21 not having IFR, neither did other Western point-defense fighter designs of the period. The Lightning only gained probes late in its career when it was require to stage them out to Singapore.
By: olly_s - 25th July 2018 at 10:34
IL-78 is the main tanker, with planes like the Su-33 and Tu-95 being able to aerially refuel
By: farnboroughrob - 25th July 2018 at 09:12
Good question.The IL-78 has had in flight refuelling for 10+ years but I have never seen it previous to that. Not aware if they tried it with An-12’s, or any converted airliners in the past.
By: currawong - 25th July 2018 at 03:35
Nice footage worth a look.
Have a look at the refuelling probe on a Bear.
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July 25, 2018 at 1:58 am