All Tupolev Aircraft

All Tupolev Aircraft - Aleksey succeeded his father as general designer of the bureau upon the latter's death in 1972. In 1989 the organization became known by the name ANTK imeni A.N. Tupoleva (Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex named after A.N. Tupolev) as part of a restructuring to unite the core design bureau with its production affiliates.

In 1992, following the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., it became a joint stock company with the Russian government holding a limited financial interest. During the 1960s the bureau also undertook the design and construction of a delta-wing supersonic transport, the Tu-144, a counterpart to the British and French Concorde.

All Tupolev Aircraft

Tupolev assigned his son, Aleksey, as chief designer for the project. In June 1969 the Tu-144 became the first passenger jet to fly faster than the speed of sound. The aircraft's fuel consumption, however, proved to be much higher than anticipated, shortening its range, and political support for it waned after a production plane crashed at the Paris Air Show in 1973. The Tu-144 was in passenger service only briefly in 1977

-78, until a second aircraft caught fire and crashed while on a test flight. In 1996 the design bureau revived the Tu-144 as part of a cooperative project with a number of U.S. aerospace companies to conduct research on a test version of a supersonic airliner.

In the 1990s, Tupolev struggled to survive in an extremely strained economy. Its few viable projects involved passenger airliners such as the Tu-204, which entered service in 1996. It also developed the Tu-324 passenger airliner, its first aircraft supported solely by financing from a commercial customer, the republic of Tatarstan.

Other new products included the Tu-334, a 100-passenger airliner designed to replace its Tu-134 (introduced in the 1960s), and the Tu-330, a wide-body cargo transport for the Russian air force. It also continued to make marginal upgrades in the systems of its older bomber fleets.

Tupolev, officially ANTK imeni A.N. Tupoleva also called ANTK Tupolev formerly OKB-156, Russian aerospace design bureau that is a major producer of civilian passenger airliners and military bombers. As a Soviet agency, it developed the U.S.S.R.'s first commercial jetliner and the world's first supersonic passenger jet.

Headquarters are in Moscow. Tupolev consists of the main design bureau and an experimental plant in Moscow, a branch in Tomilino, a flight-testing station in Zhukovsky, several design affiliates throughout Russia, and a department in Ukraine.

It employs about 10,000 people. Since its establishment it has been involved in about 80 aircraft projects, almost half of which have been put into massive series production, and it has supplied more than 50 percent of all passenger aircraft operated by the countries of the former Soviet Union.

In addition to civilian passenger airliners, Tupolev produces freight aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and test aircraft for research and development projects. Its success in foreign markets has been small compared to other Russian airplane builders.

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