A second overhauled and fundamentally upgraded strategic bomber Tu-22M3M has performed its first flight, a source in the defense-industrial complex has told TASS.

The plane took off from and landed at the airdrome of the Kazan aircraft-building plant.

The press service of the public joint stock company Tupolev (an affiliate of the united aircraft-building corporation governed by the state corporation Rostec) has confirmed the flight, adding that the purpose was to estimate the takeoff and landing parameters of the plane and test the IT and control system.

The press service said the second Tu-22M3M will begin a series of test flights in the near future.

The first experimental Tupolev-22M3M took off on December 28, 2018. Another source in the defense-industrial complex specified that the first experimental bomber had made 18 successful flights by the end of October 2019.