On December 23, Russia marked the Strategic...

The new plane will have a variety of weapons, in particular multirole cruise missiles and guided bombs, ensuring its use for different purposes, from pinpoint strikes in local conflict zones to nuclear strikes.

Strategic aviation is one of the most flexible elements of the military system. Unlike nuclear missile submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers can carry conventional weapons for use in local conflicts and fulfill a wide range of tasks in an all-out war.

Such flexibility of the multirole strategic bombers ensures them a prominent place in Russia"s defenses even though they cannot fly as fast or carry as large an equivalent yield as intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author"s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik)