The Tupolev Tu-95, known to NATO by the reporting name Bear, is a Soviet and later Russian strategic bomber and missile-launch platform powered by four Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engines driving contra-rotating propellers, making it the only turboprop-powered strategic bomber to remain in operational service anywhere in the world. First flown in 1952 and entering Soviet service in 1956, it carried the Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, during the 1961 test over Novaya Zemlya, and later missile-carrying variants such as the Tu-95MS have been continuously modernized to keep the airframe in front-line use for well over half a century. Russia's Aerospace Forces still operated around 55 Tu-95MS aircraft as of 2020, and the bomber has seen combat use launching cruise missiles over Syria beginning in November 2015 and extensively during the war in Ukraine following Russia's 2022 invasion, a conflict in which Ukrainian drone strikes destroyed seven to eight Tu-95MS aircraft across two airbases in June 2025 with a further aircraft lost in July 2026.
Facts
Weapon Class Introduced Year Classification
Service Status Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) Connections
Used In
Source Tupolev Tu-95, Wikipedia
Source Tupolev Tu-95, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Business Atlas: Aviakor, manufactured by there.
Sources
1. Tupolev Tu-95, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph
The Tupolev Tu-95 (Russian: Туполев Ту-95; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large Soviet nuclear-capable, four-engine turboprop strategic bomber and missile launch platform.
Development, service entry
the Tu-95 entered service with the Long-Range Aviation of the Soviet Air Forces in 1956
service status
The Tupolev Tu-95, known to NATO by the reporting name Bear, is a Soviet and later Russian strategic bomber and missile-launch platform powered by four Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engines driving contra-rotating propellers, making it the only turboprop-powered strategic bomber to remain in operational service anywhere in the world
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
- Correction: a strategic bomber aircraft, not a guided missile.
Used In: Russo-Ukrainian War, Wikipedia article text
It has been used for cruise missile attacks in the Russo-Ukrainian war since 2022.
Used In: Syrian Civil War, Wikipedia article text
The bomber was first used in combat in November 2015 at the outset of Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war.
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