Three Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic long-range, strategic & maritime strike bomber have arrived in Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport, 16 km from the center of Novosibirsk, an industrial and scientific center in Siberia and Russia’s third largest city, reported “Already Happened “.

The Tu-22M3 is the last version of the Backfire that is still in service. The aircraft was sold to the Soviet leadership as a derivative of the older and much less sophisticated Tu-22 Blinder—but the Tu-22M is a completely new design that shares nothing with it predecessor except for its designation.

The Soviet military basically had to trick the Kremlin into funding the Backfire the same way the U.S. Navy convinced the U.S. Congress that the almost entirely new F/A-18E/F Super Hornet airframe was a derivative of the original F/A-18.