Modernized Blackjack takes off after avionic upgrade

The first Tupolev  Tu-160 M  Blackjack  has completed its maiden flight after an avionic modernization that revamped the bombers’ radar and avionic systems in the past two years. The aircraft is one of three undergoing the upgrade, under a contract worth  RUR3.4 billion (US$103  million) awarded in 2013. The flight that lasted two hours and 40 minutes took off from the Kazan airfield, in the Tatarstan Republic, of  Russia , where the upgrading work was processed by the aircraft’s builder. The  Blackjack  is the  Russia n strategic bomb…