Shortround6
Major General
Wonder how much would it be good for VVS to have a force of long range bombers (even if those are not strictly 4-engined jobs) with escort fighters to support them?
Soviets have the same problem that everybody else did in 1940-41. The engines available will not support long range escort fighters. The Russians struggled with low powered engines as it was for the entire war. They sacrificed armament for performance in many cases. Trying to haul the needed fuel would have just made the problems worse. The DB-3/IL-4 actually had pretty decent range (IL-4 2,600 km (1,404 nmi; 1,616 mi) with 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bombs)
Russians even resorted to such things as carrying I-16s under old TB-3 bombers as a way to extend the fighters range as as attack planes, figuring the TB-3 probably had zero chance of penetrating defended airspace.