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Tupolev Tu-95LAL

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Tu-119
The Tu-95LAL test aircraft. The bulge in the middle covers the reactor.
Role Experimental nuclear aircraft
Manufacturer Tupolev
Status cancelled
Number built 1
Developed from Tupolev Tu-95

The Tupolev Tu-119 (Tu-95LAL[notes 1]) test plane was a modified Tupolev Tu-95 Soviet bomber aircraft which flew from 1961 to 1965. It was intended to see if a nuclear reactor could be used to power an aircraft. Without the need to refuel, the resulting nuclear aircraft would have greatly extended range compared to conventional designs. The design was analogous to the United States' earlier Convair X-6.

Description

During the cold war the USSR had an experimental nuclear aircraft program, like the USA. On 12 August 1955 the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a directive ordering bomber-related design bureaus to join forces in researching nuclear aircraft. The design bureaus of Andrei Tupolev and Vladimir Myasishchev became the chief design teams, while N.D. Kuznetsov and A.M. Lyulka, were assigned to develop the engines. They chose to focus on the direct cycle system from the start, testing ramjets, jet engines and even turboprops.

The Tupolev bureau, knowing the complexity of the task assigned to them, estimated that it would be two decades before the program could produce a working prototype. They assumed that the first operational nuclear-assisted airplane could take to the air in the late 1970s or early 1980s. In order to gain experience with the operational problems, they proposed building a flying testbed as soon as possible, mounting a small reactor in a Tupolev Tu-95M to create a Tu-119.[1]

The reactor was fitted in the bomb bay of the aircraft, although it did not fit cleanly and a "bump" was put on top as well. According to some sources, the aircraft had two conventional NK-12 outboard turboprop engines and two experimental NK-14 'dirty' direct cycle jet engines powered by a minimally shielded nuclear reactor in the main fuselage. From 1961 to 1969, the Tu-119 completed over 40 research flights.[2] Most of these were made with the reactor shut down. The main purpose of the flight phase was examining the effectiveness of the radiation shielding which was one of the main concerns for the engineers. Liquid sodium, beryllium oxide, cadmium, paraffin wax and steel plates were used for protection. Some sources claim that the aircraft could stay in the air for around 48 hours, or for as long as the air crew could survive the radiation emitted by the reactor. The results were disappointing; radiation levels were high and the test pilots and crew were heavily irradiated. A letter from test pilot V. A. Guryanov reads in part "...We'd all been irradiated, but we ignored it. Of the two test crews, only three men survived: a young navigator, a military navigator, and me. The first to go - a young technician - took only three years to die..."[3] As in the US, development never continued past this point. The apparent potential of the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile made the expensive nuclear aircraft program superfluous, and it was scaled back.

Specifications (Tu-119)

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See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

Notes
  1. ^ LAL stands for in Russian: Летающая Атомная Лаборатория (Letaiouchaia Atomiaia Laboratoriia or flying nuclear laboratory).
Citations
  1. ^ Buttler & Gordon 2004, pp. 80
  2. ^ From the television/DVD documentary, Planes That Never Flew: The Atomic Plane, Discovery Channel Europe and Alba Communications Ltd., (c) 2003
  3. ^ From the television/DVD documentary, Planes That Never Flew: The Atomic Plane, Discovery Channel Europe and Alba Communications Ltd., (c) 2003
Bibliography
  • Gordon, Yefim (2004). OKB Ilyushin: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 1-85780-187-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Colon, Raul. "Soviet Experimentation with Nuclear Powered Bombers". Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  • Buttler, Tony; Gordon, Yefim (2004). "Chapter 6: Nuclear Power and Flying Wings". Soviet secret projects : Bombers since 1945. Hinckley: Midland Pub. ISBN 1857801946. Retrieved 8 January 2012. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
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