New Build Tu-160 Blackjack Strategic Bomber Begins Flight Test

I think that this is another indication of how Russia is rearming, and I think that it is driven by a fear of NATO in general, and the US in particular.

Of course, this suits the Republicans just fine, because they want a scary opponent who justifies high tech white elephants like the F-22.

FWIW, "New Build" appears to be kind of a technicality. It appears that the aircraft was manufactured from a partially completed airframe dated from the 1990s.