Designers have completed developing the documentation for the modified version of the Tupolev Tu-22M3 bomber, the Tu-22M3M, and the first heavy upgrade of operational aircraft will begin in 2018, a source in the Russian defense industry told TASS on Friday.

The Tu-22M3M bombers will get advanced precision weapons while their radio-electronic devices and engines will be similar to the equipment aboard the latest Tu-160M2 aircraft, the source added.

"The development of the documentation for the Tu-22M3M has been completed and work is currently under way at the Kazan Aircraft Enterprise to prepare the production facilities for the repair and modernization of the bombers that are in service in the operational units of Russia’s Aerospace Force. The first heavy upgrade of these planes since the time of their development will begin from next year," the source said.

"The Tu-22M3M will feature an absolutely new avionics system standardized with the Tu-160M2," the source noted.

"This refers to the entire avionics, including the navigation and sighting complex," the source said, adding that after its upgrade the Tu-22M3M would get a possibility to use "modern long-range precision weapons."

According to the source, the Tu-22M3M will have a power unit identical to the motor system aboard the Tu-160M2 (new NK-32-02 engines produced by the Samara-based Kuznetsov aerospace engine company).

The timeframe of modernization and the number of upgraded aircraft depend "on the enterprise’s capacities and on how work will proceed on the first planes."