The strike arm developed from the numerous but subsonic Tu-16 Badger to the Tu-22 Blinder, the Soviet Union's first supersonic bomber built in substantial numbers. The later Tu-22M Backfire expanded the concept again, with nearly five hundred airframes built. Soviet naval bomber crews were treated as an elite because their attacks were expected to form the spearpoint of the maritime battle. Bears would search at long range, Badgers could add reconnaissance and the mass of a raid, and faster Backfires would deliver part of the main anti-ship blow. Speed complemented the older aircraft that still supplied reconnaissance and the numbers needed for a large strike.
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From the Tu-22 Blinder to the Backfire
The Tu-22 and Tu-22M added supersonic speed to a strike system whose Badgers and Bears supplied mass and reconnaissance.