The Soviet air defense system completely paralyzed the development of the American strategic bomber.

The project of the analogue of the Russian strategic bomber Tu-160 "White Swan" being developed by the United States of America had to be urgently stopped due to the fact that this aircraft turned out to be vulnerable to the Soviet medium-range anti-aircraft missile system, which is still used in 19 countries of the world and is considered incredible effective against both fighters and cruise missiles. The United States emphasized that the country's air force was left without the most modern strategic bomber due to the fact that the rapid spread of Soviet air defense systems threatened the operation of this aircraft.

We are talking about the strategic supersonic bomber XB-70 Valkyrie ("Valkyrie"), which was able to overtake even the supersonic interceptor MiG-31, which in the era of the development of hypersonic weapons would create a very big problem for Russia.

“The Valkyrie boasted six engines and, despite its enormous size, was capable of moving at speeds up to Mach 3. Thus, a promising bomber could well keep up with the Soviet MiG fighters existing at that time "- reports "The National Interest".

The key role in the "killing" of the American strategic bomber XB-70 Valkyrie was played by the Soviet S-75 anti-aircraft missile system, which was capable of hitting targets at distances of up to 40 kilometers, with a maximum target flight altitude of up to 30 kilometers. The maximum speed of the targeted target could reach 2300 km / h. and although this figure was a third higher for an American bomber, it could not constantly move at maximum speed. It was the S-75 air defense system that put an end to this development.