The Bear, the Swan and the Crouching Dragon

... able to become what the American bomber was intended to be, i.e. a supersonic strategic missile-carrier. The B-1 itself went into production as a cheaper and much simplified version – a transonic. The pride and “shop window” [6] of Russian strategic aviation is the supersonic Tu-160 (NATO classification: Blackjack, but widely known in Russia as the White Swan). Interestingly, while having been built as a response to the B-1, it was able to become what the American bomber was intended to ...