Tupolev Tu-95 Tu-95KD

Work on the hose-and-drogue aerial refuelling system started in May 1960 and was completed in 1961; the missile-carrying bombers fitted with it were designated Tu-95KD. The nose probe gave the Bear-B back the radius of action that the extra tanks and the drag of the Kh-20 had taken away, and it became a common feature of every later member of the family. During the 1960s several Tu-95K and Tu-95KD bombers received new radio-electronic and navigation equipment and were redesignated Tu-95KM, the Western Bear-C: outwardly close to late-production Tu-95KDs, it is told apart by two pairs of reconnaissance radomes on opposite sides of the rear fuselage. Some Western sources argued the Bear-C was new-build rather than a conversion. Many of these aircraft went back through the shops in the 1970s to become Tu-95K-22s, and none is believed to survive in the original configuration.