Here's some interesting footage of a Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber refueling in flight from an Ilyushin Il-78 tanker. Note the so-called "blended wing body" of the Tu-160, where the wings blend seamlessly into the fuselage in an unbroken lifting surface.
Although the design bureau would almost certainly deny it, the physical resemblance between the Tu-160 and the US Rockwell B-1 bomber is striking, almost certainly because the Soviet Union copied the early B-1 blended wing body design. Here's a B-1 bomber refueling in mid-air, to give you a similar perspective; note the similarities in design.
Peter
5 comments:
There aren't many of the old Backfires in inventory, flying. I think that wing load left some stress problems for airframes with a certain number of hours.
As LL said, there was/is a major problem with the wing box where it joins the fuselage. Apparently there is a 'counter loading' issue with the leading edge vs. the main wing structure.
Similar parameters and mission requirements yield... similar results. Parallel evolution does exist.
But so does espionage, all the way up to previous presidents and their families.
From my personal experience working at Rockwell during the latter half of the B1-B production run, it is clear that this Soviet/Russian knock-off is of the B1-A design (note the lack of a canard on the forward fuselage). I remember being told that the canard was added to the A model design to correct for wing loading difficulties, particularly transitioning in and out of supersonic flight IIRC, discovered by the USAF during the original A model test platform flights.
From the available evidence, commies even suck at espionage. :)
aerodynamics physics and structural engineering doesn't change because of politics. I a design works, they will use it. just look at how the micro chip was copied. LL should know a few more in that vein. the boys and girls peeking from behind the curtain always put their money into espionage instead of research because it was cheaper and for them, politically correct...
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