In April 1967, the Kuznetsov Design Bureau accepted an official request to create a new engine that would later be designated as the NK-22.[2] The design of the NK-22 was based on the NK-144 engine used on the Tupolev Tu-144SST.[2]
The first specimen of the engine was completed on April 10, 1968[2] and the first factory tests where passed in the same month.[2] State tests took place in October 1970.[2] The engines where later installed on Tu-22M0, M1 and M2 bombers.[2] Serial production of the NK-22 started in 1969 and was terminated in 1984.[1]
A modernised version of the NK-22, the NK-23, first ran in July 1976[1] and was tested in flight on a Tupolev Tu-22M2 bomber.[2] Despite having more thrust (220 kN)[3] than its predecessor, the NK-23 was not put into serial production.[3]