Two Tupolev design forms then became apparent: one was a four-engined jet development competing against a four-engined turboprop variant. Swept-wing design experience would be forged through the existing Tu-16 'Badger' and Tu-88 products. The Myasishchev design was eventually adopted as the jet-powered, swept-wing M-4 'Bison' but Tupolev persisted in its own design goal nonetheless, and influenced, in part, by its existing large-body aircraft programs in the Tu-4 and Tu-85. No to be outdone, engineers at Tupolev went hard at work on a competing type and this was initially based on captured war-time plans from Germany for a swept-wing, jet-powered bomber. The offer for a new, swept-wing ,jet-powered strategic bomber initially fell to the competing concern of Myasishchev who sold the Soviet military on the idea of a 590 mile per hour bomber with 8,070 mile range. The decision to move towards the turboprop form over a turbojet configuration promised better endurance as jets still proved fuel-hungry propulsion systems. However, both eventually lost out to the turboprop-powered 'Tu-95' development which went on to have a very healthy service life that continues even today (December 2013). The Tu-80 utilized conventional propeller-driven power which ultimately lacked the qualities desired when compared to the promising Tu-85 and its reciprocating engines.

The B-29 offered Soviet engineers the necessary data on producing long-range heavy bomber types which were then lacking in the Soviet air arm amidst growing concern over the American reach and its nuclear program. While the Tu-4 was produced under the Soviet Tupolev brand label, it was nothing more than an unlicensed copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress of which three was force-landed on Soviet soil and confiscated during World War 2 (1939-1945) following raids on Japan. The aircraft owed much to the two preceding developmental designs, both of which were cancelled after just prototypes were completed and evaluated though all could trace their lineage back to the Tupolev Tu-4 'Bull'. Following the developmental Tupolev Tu-80 and Tu-85 programs was the famous Tupolev Tu-95 'Bear' which proved a common site in the skies over the Pacific and elsewhere during the Cold War decades.

Tupolev tu 95 bomber