Take a Peek Inside the Tu-95MS’s Flight Deck

Here’s something we rarely get to see on the western side of the world- the brain center of the infamous Tupolev Tu-95MS Bear H. Check out this cool high-definition GIF of the cockpit, in pristine condition. The Tu-95MS is generally crewed by a pilot, a co-pilot, a flight engineer, a communications operator, and a navigator, with a tail-gunner riding in the rear of the aircraft. The MS variant of the Bear is designed to carry and deploy cruise missiles, including the Kh-22 “Kitchen” and Kh-55 “Kent”. The Bear has been flying in some capacity or another with the Russian Air Force (and, historically, the Soviet Union) since 1956, though the MS series began production in 1981. Noticeably absent from the below GIF are any kind of modern glass displays; everything seems to be old-school analog.