Except for a few test flights, there have been no sorties by Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack' strategic bombers since one of the aircraft crashed in the Saratov Region of Russia last September 18. However, that changed on July 16, when the commander at Engels air base took a Belyi Lebed (White Swan), as it is nicknamed, aloft for a training flight on the day that restrictions were lifted. Although the Tu-160 looks like a larger version of the USAF's Rockwell B-1B, it serves in fewer numbers than the Northrop Grumman B-2A, the Engels fleet including some repurchased from Ukraine after the breakup of the USSR.
