Tupolev Tu-360

The Tupolev Tu-360 was a proposed hypersonic strategic bomber conceived by the Tupolev design bureau in the 1980s, using most of the same technologies as the Tu-2000. The bureau intended it as a potential replacement for the Tu-160, with the same layout as the Mach 4 Tu-230 but much larger and faster. Speeds around Mach 6 required liquid hydrogen fuel, and the engines used the same liquid hydrogen ramjet technology as the Tu-2000. Weapons were to sit in two bomb bays, take-off weight was projected near 350,000 kg and the weapons load at 10,000 kg. A subscale technology demonstrator of 80,000 kg was planned, but a lack of funds after the fall of the Soviet Union meant the project was axed in 1992.