TU-16 BadgerTU 16 Badger airplane model. In the late 1940s the Soviet Union was strongly committed to matching the United States in strategic bombing capability. The Soviets' only long range bomber at the time was the Tupolev Tu 4, a reverse engineered version of the American B 29. The development of the extremely powerful Mikulin AM 3 turbojet led to the possibility of a large, jet powered bomber. The Tupolev design bureau began work on the Tu 88 ("Aircraft N")