Arctic Storm Rising

Seated next to him in the right-hand seat, Petrov’s copilot, Major Oleg Bunin, checked one of his large multifunction displays. It showed a detailed, digitized map of the terrain ahead of them. Variously shaped icons glowed across the map. One blinked green. “Coming up on the target evaluation range in two minutes.” Bunin, stockier and slightly taller than his commander, tapped the screen with a gloved finger. “The range is locked in to our navigation system.”

A new steering cue appeared on Petrov’s HUD. It slid right and then centered as he rolled out of the turn to the east and leveled off. His left hand slid the throttles forward. “Going to full military power.”

The roar from the bomber’s two massive NK-65 turbofans deepened as it accelerated, racing ahead now at more than a thousand kilometers per hour. Both Su-34 chase planes easily kept pace. The fighter-bombers were capable of attaining supersonic speeds well above those possible for the larger, longer-ranged aircraft.

“Sixty seconds out,” Bunin reported. “Activating targeting radar and other sensors.” His fingers tapped at another of his displays. Instantly, the PAK-DA’s active electronically scanned array Ku-band radar powered up. Like the AESA radars carried by America’s B-2 stealth bombers, its signals were designed to be difficult for any enemy to intercept.

Almost immediately, new icons blinked onto Petrov’s HUD. They showed the positions of possible targets — camouflaged tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, surface-to-air missile launchers, and bunkers — scattered across the test range. Some of them were real. Others were decoys that had been carefully constructed to produce apparently genuine radar and thermal signatures. “Engage our target discrimination program,” he ordered.

Obeying, Bunin set a piece of sophisticated computer software running. It rapidly analyzed data collected by the bomber’s radar and other sensors, ferreting out the slightest inconsistencies. “The TDP program is running.”

One after another, target icons vanished as the software weighed them in the balance, judged them to be fake, and locked them out of the system — ensuring that no missiles or bombs would be wasted on mere decoys. As they disappeared, Bunin highlighted several of the remaining high-priority targets for the bomber’s advanced attack software. Acting autonomously, the computer selected the weapons most likely to kill each target and assigned them on its own, without human intervention.

A countdown timer flashed into existence on Petrov’s HUD. “Attacking in ten seconds,” he said calmly. His thumb settled over the weapons release button on his stick. The timer clicked to zero. Petrov pressed the switch. “Weapons away!”

A high-pitched whine permeated the cockpit as the bomber’s internal bay doors cycled open. Graphics showed simulated missiles and guided bombs leaving the bays and plunging toward their designated targets. When they were gone, the bay doors whined shut again.

Satisfied, Petrov throttled back to reduce speed and keyed his mike. “Chkalov Test Center, this is Ten’ Odin, Shadow One,” he radioed. “Attack complete. Repeat, attack complete.”

“Copy that, Shadow One,” the mission controller monitoring this series of tests acknowledged. “Stand by for our evaluation.”

Data links between the bomber prototype and the test center allowed the technicians there to follow every action taken by the PAK-DA’s flight crew and its computers in real time. Right now, they were checking the evaluations made by the bomber’s target discrimination program. Had it successfully identified which targets were real and which were cleverly crafted fakes?

“Shadow One, this is Chkalov,” the controller said, sounding pleased. “We score that as a complete success. Every target selected was legitimate. And every target discarded by your computer was a decoy. There were no observed errors.”

Petrov and Bunin exchanged triumphant glances. While Russia’s stealth bomber was primarily intended as a strategic strike platform to hit high-value fixed sites — enemy command centers and air bases, for example — they’d just demonstrated an additional capability to conduct attacks on well-camouflaged tactical targets. That made the PAK-DA a match for America’s B-2s, which had been used for years against terrorists in Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.

“Understood, Chkalov,” Petrov said. He glanced across the cockpit at his copilot. “What’s left on our checklist, Oleg?”

“Just one more computer test,” Bunin told him, reading a menu of action items from one of his displays. “We need to verify the handoff between our primary and secondary computers in case of trouble.”

Petrov considered that. Because the bomber prototype relied so heavily on computers to manage its advanced fly-by-wire flight controls, weapons, defenses, and sensors, it was equipped with redundant backup computer systems. If its crew lost their main computer, either because of battle damage or some other malfunction, secondary systems were supposed to take over automatically. They’d successfully demonstrated this switching capability several times on the ground. Now it was time to make sure it worked when it counted, in the air.