Kolkata: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) is carrying out the assembling of parts of Tupolev 142 anti-submarine aircraft that was transported to the city for dismantling on February 14 from INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu. KMDA is setting up a naval aircraft museum in New Town on the lines of the one at Ramakrishna Beach in Vishakhapatnam and the anti-submarine aircraft will be an integral part of the museum. The aircraft was handed over to KMDA on November 15, last year by the Indian Navy. The land at New Town adjacent to the police station has been cleared, flattened and the base on which the aircraft will be erected has already been completed. "We have started work on the next phase that is the identification of an architect to design the layout of the museum. The aircraft needs to be renovated so that the visitors have access to all the parts of the aircraft," a senior official of KMDA said. KMDA officials had visited the site of the naval museum at Vishakhapatnam a few months back to get an idea of how the design can be developed. The Tu-142 has lived its total technical life and it is no longer economically viable to keep it in service. Russia continues to operate its Tu-142 fleet, but the cold conditions they function in are much easier on the aircraft. The aircraft was the Soviet Unions answer during the Cold War to Americas Polaris, the worlds first submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a range of 1,800 km. Designated the "Bear" by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, for which the aircraft remained an enigma, more than a hundred Tu-142 variants were built for the then Soviet Russian, Ukrainian and Indian navies. The Navy is also planning to install a decommissioned Sea Harrier fighter aircraft at the same venue.

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