Myasishchev M-55 geophysica

[lomcovak]

M-55 was created the Geophysica-EEIG, European group of Economic Interest, based in Italy, in Florence (2002-2007). On behalf of the European scientific community, he has carried out scientific missions in the Arctic, Antarctica, Europe, South America, Australia and Africa since November 1997. The base of operations in Russia was in Zhukowsky. It is currently based at the Russian Aviation Experimental Center in Akhtubinsk. All plans relating to its military use are interrupted or canceled, also because its military effectiveness today would be rather doubtful. In fact, despite the high altitude of tangency, the plane, in addition to not having stealth characteristics, is devoid of modern anti-missile and avionics systems: it would therefore be rather vulnerable to modern fighters.
However, it appears that the Russian Air Force issued a completion order for two M-55s that were incomplete after the program was suspended. However, there are no other specimens built.
In April 2016, a specimen (which should be the only one existing) was again sighted in the skies of Scandinavia, when it was considered unused for years. According to the Finnish radars that identified it, the plane flew at an altitude of 19,000 meters and proceeded at a speed of 350-380 km