The beginning of the Cold War and the perceived need by Soviet political and military leaders to deliver nuclear strikes against the continental USA led the Soviet Union to develop new delivery vehicles -- primarily strategic bombers. Thus, in 1951 the Tupolev Design Bureau brought out the Tu-95. Known to the West as the Bear, this machine was unique in that it combined turboprop engines with swept wings -- a feature which accounted for the bomber's impressive top speed of 910 km/h.The basic bomber soon became a symbol of the Soviet threat and the progenitor of a whole family of combat aircraft which included missile carriers, an over-the-horizon targeting version working with missile submar