Tupolev Tu-125

The Tupolev Tu-125 was an unbuilt project for a long-range supersonic bomber for the Soviet Air Force, begun in 1958 to replace the then-new Tu-22. Tu-125 was only the internal designation of the Tupolev design bureau, and because no aircraft was ever built it never received a military designation. The design was a canard with a delta wing and a delta stabilizer, made mainly of titanium and aluminium alloys, with two Kuznetsov NK-6 or NK-10 turbojets under the wings, or in an alternative version four Tumansky R-15B-300 turbojets in two nacelles. Estimated figures give a length of 41.4 metres, a wingspan of 22.2 metres, a gross weight of about 110 tonnes, a top speed near 3,500 kilometres per hour and a range of 7,000 kilometres, with one Raduga Kh-22 nuclear missile as armament. The Soviet Air Force rejected the project in September 1962 and it was stopped.