MOSCOW, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers have completed a record-breaking 23-hour patrol flight, said an Air Force spokesman Thursday.
"This mission was the second maximum range flight ever conducted by this type of aircraft. A Tu-160 carried out a similar mission last year and stayed in the air for 21 hours," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The planes flew over the neutral waters in the Arctic and Pacific oceans as well as over the Russian territories before landing in the Volga region.
Tu-160 Blackjack is a supersonic and variable-geometry heavy bomber developed to strike strategic targets with nuclear and conventional weapons.
Russian strategic bombers resumed patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans in August 2007, under an order from then-President Vladimir Putin.
