The Arab Tu-22 "Blinder"

[WayOfTheWolk 1,570]

The Arab Tu-22 "Blinder"

Artist's rendition of the Tu-22 "Blinder" in Iraqi desert camouflage

Introduction:

Since the 1960s the Soviet Union, Libya and Iraq had enjoyed close relations through political means. Muammar Gadaffi and the Iraq based Arab Socialist Baathist Party had ideological sympathies for the endeavors of the Soviets and in response both countries were supplied with arms and personnel training from the USSR. A formal 15 year treaty of friendship with Iraq was signed in April 1972 under the supervision of Moscow. In 1973 the USSR went further approving the sale of 10 Tu-22 "Blinder" supersonic bombers along with 2 trainers to the Iraqi Air Force, additional aircraft were sent to Libya. These aircraft, the most advanced in any Arab air force at the time were used to their full extant serving a career of nearly 20 years before either being lost in combat or abandoned in the desert. It should be specially noted that the USSR only briefly used the bomber variant of the Tu-22, this is a unique Arab aircraft in many regards. In War Thunder the Tu-22 "Blinder" has the potential to be a capable Rank 7 bomber aircraft for a variety of military powers. 

 

General History:

During the Kurdish Uprising between 1974-75 Iraqi "Blinders" were used against the local population targeting suspected insurgent hideouts and villages. The damage reportedly done to the Kurds was so consequential that the Soviets actually had to temporarily halt military sales to Iraq out of humanitarian worries. This was the first debut of the Tu-22 in an operational combat mission and it was gruesomely successful. This however was only the first of such "terror bombings" in Iraqi military history. During the infamous Iran-Iraq war that lasted over a decade the Blinder was used to its full potential bombing Iranian cities with almost complete impunity. A rebuild program was undertaken from 1981-83 repairing the hardened aircraft that had been sitting unused since the Kurdish campaign training new personnel and re-stocking parts stores from the Soviets. Previously much of the bomber crew consisted of delegated East German pilots who throughout the 1970s operated both Iraqi and Libyan Tu-22s under contract. By February 1984, the Blinders were ready again engaging now Tehran in an effort to diminish the morale of the Iranian people. While the Iranian Air Force did have the necessary aircraft to intercept the supersonic bombers the lack of confidence and adequate training meant that the chances were slim overall. Iranian F-4 pilots could catch the Tu-22 at level altitude but the moment they made a shallow dive it was over for the defenders. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Iraqis had started to mask Iranian early warning radars using Soviet provided Pelena II radio jammers and interestingly enough creating chaff clouds by filling the bomb bays with chaff. 

 

This did not mean however that the IQAF was left unscathed by the Iranians particularly regarding losses by the more advanced Iranian F-14 Tomcats. A total of 4 Blinders were lost during the Iran-Iraq conflict due to enemy fire and the rest due to mechanical failure or lack of spare parts. The Tu-22 had a shaky record in Soviet service prone to mechanical conflicts and this plagued the Iraqis from the start to the end of their service life. By the 1980s the Soviets had begun to withdraw support from Iraq due to humanitarian concerns over the conduct of the war and the looming economic situation at home. Operation Desert Storm in 1991 decimated the Iraqi Air Force on the ground rendering the Blinder fleet completely inoperable. Invading Coalition forces had discovered aircraft hidden under sand piles salvaging the remnants and scrapping the rest. Today Iraq no longer operates any Blinders in its reformed air force and this chapter of Iraqi history has faded into the dust .

 

In Libyan service the Tu-22 "Blinder" was almost exclusively operated by East Germany under contract. Their first mission consisted of a bombing run on Mwanza during the Uganda-Tanzania war on March 29, 1979. Later on during the 1980s Libya was once again using the Tu-22 during the Chadian-Libyan conflict running terror bombings deep into the Chadian capital of N'Djamena. One notable mission occurred on February 17, 1986 when a single Libyan aircraft struck the army airfield at the capital demolishing a great portion the runway and suspending French military operations for a day. The East German pilot evaded French radar by flying low over the desert for most of the journey only to sudden climb over the airfield at Mach 1 dropping at least three crippling bombs. Further raids on N'Djamena proved unsuccessful as French counter-intelligence was able to gain interception of the bombers with the last mission of the conflict occurring on September 7th, 1987 (for a total loss of 2 Blinders). Libyan Blinders continued to fly until September of 1992 when the fleet was grounded due to a lack of technical assistance.

Images:

Place in War Thunder:

You might have noticed at the top of the suggestion I give the choice for players to either choose a Soviet or German tech tree for this vehicle's representation. Multiple countries have played a role in this aircraft's service tenure in some way or another.  While the Soviets could logically receive as the aircraft's builder Germany (GDR) provided pilots to Iraq and Libya for a lack of trained staff so an argument could be made to give the Blinder to the German tech tree. On the other hand I wouldn't suggest this as a premium simply to avoid outcry from the player base with a supersonic bomber premium. As we continue to advance in War Thunder the need for every nation to have equipment on par with the meta will increase; this is a solution to that end.

 

Specifications:

Crew: three (pilot, navigator, weapons officer)
Length: 41.6m
Wingspan: 23.17m 
Height: 10.13m
Wing area: 162 m2
Empty weight: 85,000
Loaded weight: 92,000
Powerplant: 2 x Dobrynin RD-7M-2 afterburning turbojet engines
Dry thrust: 107.9 kN (24,300 lbf)
Thrust with afterburner: 161.9 kN (36,400 lbf)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 1.2 (1,510 km/h) 

Range: 4,900 km (3000 mi)
Service ceiling: 13,300 m (43,600 ft)
Rate of climb: 12.7 m/s (2,500 ft/s)
Wing loading: 525 kg/m² (108 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.39

Armament: Guns: 1×23mm Rikhter R-23 in tail turret, 1 x Kh-22 cruise missile, 12,000 (26,500 Ib) of bombs 

 

Sources:

Spoiler

• Cooper, Tom; Bishop, Farzad (2000). Iran-Iraq War in the Air. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing. 
• http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=63
• http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=24905
• https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=316

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by WayOfTheWolk

[leroyonly 4,303]

Open for discussion. 

[Borotovas 4,496]

+1 I fully support it for the Soviet tree. I previously made an IQAF MiG-19S skin, and the Iraqi roundels are one of the most beautiful roundels on aircraft.

 

Spoiler

https://live.warthunder.com/post/839072/en/

 

Here are some camouflages for the Iraqi Tu-22 that I found.

 

http://www.findmodelkit.com/content/tu-22kd-blinder

 

http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=63

 

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/b/653/19/0

 

Edited November 30, 2019 by Borotovas

[Stuhlfleisch 3,761]

I would love to see this being added, if possible to as many trees as feasible. +1 from me!

[WulfPack 1,692]

+1 as a camo for the one in the Soviet TT.

Should it be added.

[Solarmod 1,200]

Dang this thing ugly. +1 from me.

[Borotovas 4,496]

On 30/11/2019 at 21:20, WulfPack said:

+1 as a camo for the one in the Soviet TT.

Should it be added.

 

So it would be like the North Korean MiG-15bis in the USSR tree, and not a separate plane? That could work.

[WayOfTheWolk 1,570]

While I did speak to the aircraft's Libyan history I realize I did not create a poll for the separate camo. Perhaps then the Soviets could get a Iraqi Tu-22 while the Germans could get a Tu-22 in Libyan camouflage. 

[Borotovas 4,496]

1 hour ago, Private_Wolk said:

While I did speak to the aircraft's Libyan history I realize I did not create a poll for the separate camo. Perhaps then the Soviets could get a Iraqi Tu-22 while the Germans could get a Tu-22 in Libyan camouflage. 

 

I think that would ruin the poll again. What if you made a suggestion about another Libyan aircraft, or another thread for specifically the Libyan Tu-22?

 

 

[WayOfTheWolk 1,570]

2 hours ago, Borotovas said:

 

I think that would ruin the poll again. What if you made a suggestion about another Libyan aircraft, or another thread for specifically the Libyan Tu-22?

 

 

I'm just going to leave it as for the time being and let the developers sort it out if this ever gets passed for consideration. East Germany piloted both Iraqi and Libyan models so it honestly wouldn't matter much either way.

[Borotovas 4,496]

23 hours ago, Private_Wolk said:

I'm just going to leave it as for the time being and let the developers sort it out if this ever gets passed for consideration. East Germany piloted both Iraqi and Libyan models so it honestly wouldn't matter much either way.

 

But I think that Libya switched it's roundels back when the 1977 revolution happened.

 

It went from having the red-white-black roundel, to simply having a green roundel.

 

 

[Borotovas 4,496]

I added this aircraft to the Arab-Iranian aviation tech tree. Please support it.

 

 

[aod7rjbr 3]

This is the *one* plane I would like to fly in warthunder. And drop that huge 9k bomb

[Borotovas 4,496]

+1 I still support this vehicle.

 

I included it in my post here: https://live.warthunder.com/post/938400/en/

[IGLA_HUN 104]

You did a really extensive research, and the suggestion is well written, but, with all due respect, we don't need any copy-paste premium aircraft.

-1

[[email protected] 586]

Would make for a interesting premium or event vehicle for the USSR tech tree whenever there are more advanced bombers than it.

[AVROVULCANXH558 346]

+1 as a squadron vehicle in the Soviet Tech Tree

[Dr_Caribbean_J57 177]

Imagine this thing with the FAB-9000..

[Milocat 4,834]

+1 for a future Arabian tree or perhaps the Soviet tree as an event vehicle or something.

[Stuhlfleisch 3,761]

Germany shouldn't be an option on that poll, the whole "East Germans operated Tu-22s in Libya" is based on false reports by the French who shot down a Tu-22 over Chad in 1987, and because all three dead crew-members they found in the wreckage had blonde hair, they concluded they must have been East Germans, when in fact, only Libyans operated Lybian Tu-22s.

[Borotovas 4,496]

On 03/05/2022 at 00:54, Stuhlfleisch said:

Germany shouldn't be an option on that poll, the whole "East Germans operated Tu-22s in Libya" is based on false reports by the French who shot down a Tu-22 over Chad in 1987, and because all three dead crew-members they found in the wreckage had blonde hair, they concluded they must have been East Germans, when in fact, only Libyans operated Lybian Tu-22s.

 

Could be a Soviet crew; or the report was falsely made to try to make the USSR look bad or seem involved in another war.

 

It still would be strange to see a Libyan aircraft in the German tech tree. It would be the best fit in the Arab League tech tree, or in the USSR tech tree as the second choice.

[[email protected] 21]

1 for arab tech tree and 1 for soviet tech tree