Tupolev Tu-130

Tupolev Design Bureau

Industry	Aerospace, Defense
Founded	1922
Headquarters	Moscow , Soviet Union

Tu-130 (Russian: Ту-130) represented a concept for a boost-glide vehicle launched via an intercontinental three-stage missile, developed by the Soviet design team under Tupolev.

Development history

Template:Citation needed section Beginning in 1957, the Tupolev Design Bureau initiated work on an unmanned drone aircraft known as "DP" (дальний планирующий, Dal'niy planiruyushchiy – meaning long-range glider). This device was intended to serve as the final stage of a strategic missile system. Its deployment was planned atop medium-range ballistic missiles such as the R-5 and R-12, with consideration also given to employing a dedicated booster.

The carrier rocket would propel the DP to an altitude between 80 and 100 km, whereupon it would separate and transition into gliding flight. Following separation, trajectory adjustments would be performed. The target range was approximately 4,000 km, with the DP reaching velocities up to Mach 10. Aerodynamic control surfaces managed flight path corrections. The vehicle lacked an onboard propulsion system; instead, chemical power sources and compressed air tanks supplied energy for onboard instruments. A cooling system was incorporated to protect sensitive equipment and the thermonuclear payload. Since the airframe itself did not include active cooling, structural design had to accommodate all thermal stresses anticipated during flight. In the terminal phase, the device would execute a dive toward its target and detonate its warhead upon receiving a signal from an altimeter.

Compared to first-generation strategic missiles, this design offered enhanced targeting precision with a less complex guidance system and enabled a sophisticated flight trajectory that complicated interception efforts by anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense networks.

The project entailed two years of intensive development involving new materials and technologies, aerodynamic research, and construction and testing of prototype models. Multiple experimental vehicles were produced to validate key concepts. The entire program was designated Tu-130.

Various aerodynamic configurations were explored, including symmetric and asymmetric designs as well as tailless and canard layouts. Numerous scale models underwent wind tunnel testing at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, including assessments at supersonic speed regimes. At the Gromov Flight Research Institute, DP prototypes equipped with solid fuel-powered boosters were released from a modified Tupolev Tu-16 testbed aircraft. Additional evaluations involved launching models from artillery pieces and gas-dynamic launchers. Test speeds reached up to Mach 6.

By 1959, the DP’s aerodynamic design was finalized as a tailless aircraft featuring a wedge-shaped fuselage with a semi-elliptical cross-section and blunt nose. It incorporated a low-mounted delta wing with a 75° leading-edge sweepback and elevons spanning the entire wing length. The vertical stabilizer assembly consisted of upper and lower fins located at the rear fuselage, each equipped with brake flaps. Both wing surfaces and control elements had wedge-shaped profiles. To withstand aerodynamic heating, critical components such as the nose and leading edges of lifting and control surfaces were fabricated from graphite, while the main structure was constructed from stainless steel.

Plans called for producing five experimental units; the first was completed in 1960. Despite progress achieved by Tupolev’s bureau, work ceased following a directive from the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. Existing airframes were either dismantled or transferred to Vladimir Chelomey’s design bureau. Research outputs from this initiative contributed to subsequent Tupolev projects, notably the Zvezda manned rocket plane.

The program persisted for roughly one year before being discontinued in favor of pursuing the more conventional supersonic cruise missile project represented by the Tu-123.