A Pair of TU-160 BlackJacks will for the first time ever be landing on South African soil on the 23rd October 2019 at Airforce Base Waterkloof in the City Of Tshwane, South Africa as part of developing bilateral military cooperation and work out issues of interaction between the Russian Aerospace Forces and the South African Airforce.

The Blackjacks were scheduled to land the morning of the 22 October, but got delayed by 24 Hours. The bombers will be escorted in by the SAAFs Hawk and Gripen fighter aircraft and in this case will give our fighter pilots interception practise.

The Tu-160 Known to NATO as the Blackjack is a supersonic military missile carrier developed in the 1970s by aerospace and defence company Tupolev. It is considered the largest and heaviest supersonic aircraft ever built and is dubbed the “White Swan” for its vast wingspan, painted with anti-flash white.

The aircraft will be flying a non-stop route from Engels Air Base to Waterkloof Airforce Base. Engels Air Force Base (also given as Engels-2 or Engel’s) is a strategic bomber military airbase in Russia located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) east of Saratov. Engels is a major bomber operations base, and is Russia’s sole operating location for the Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber.

The base has a 3,500-metre (11,500 ft) runway and about 10 large revetments. It is named after the nearby Engels City, which in its turn is named after the Communist philosopher, Friedrich Engels.

A Russian Antonov 124 and IL62 are already at Waterkloof.Tomorrow we will be able to see the aircraft arrive and provide more information and detailed pictures.