What Are Beriev A-50s? Rare Russian $300m Recon Jet ‘Downed’ Over Azov Sea

The director of Ukraine’s navy intelligence company has claimed that Kyiv downed a worthwhile Russian “Bumblebee” A-50 early warning and management plane over the Azov Sea on Sunday, in what can be a significant blow for Moscow’s airborne reconnaissance capabilities.

Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Protection Ministry’s Important Directorate of Intelligence, instructed The Conflict Zone on Monday that Ukrainian forces had destroyed an A-50 and broken an Il-22M airborne command submit. Newsweek is unable to independently confirm the studies and has contacted the Russian Protection Ministry by e-mail to request remark.

The A-50—nicknamed the “Bumblebee” and given the NATO reporting identify “Mainstay”—features as an airborne warning and management system (AWACS). It’s produced by producer Beriev and entered service within the mid-Nineteen Eighties. Beriev’s headquarters and manufacturing amenities are clustered close to town of Taganrog, on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov.

The upgraded model of the A-50—the A-50U—started coming into service from 2011. The modernized model of the plane can monitor air targets out to a distance of some 400 miles and floor targets out to round 180 miles. Its tools can observe some 300 floor targets or 40 air targets concurrently, per a report by The Nationwide Curiosity.

The AWACS plane may also coordinate as much as 10 fighters in air-to-air interception or floor assault missions. It may keep within the air for prolonged intervals, given its mid-air refueling functionality. A-50s usually fly with a crew of 15 and the unit price of the plane is reportedly greater than $300 million.

Russia’s air power was believed to have 15 A-50s earlier than the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, per figures from the World Listing of Trendy Army Plane database. One was reportedly badly broken by a drone in February 2023, in an assault claimed by Belarusian anti-government partisans.

Russian authorities don’t usually acknowledge battlefield losses. A number of pro-war navy bloggers, although, lamented the obvious downing of the A-50.

“The broken Il-22 was capable of attain the airfield and land, as evidenced by leaked intercepted conversations on an open frequency, however with the A-50, apparently, all the things is far sadder,” the Colonelcassad Telegram channel wrote.

The Army Informant channel mentioned that if confirmed, it “can be an enormous loss for home aviation, since there are only some such AWACS plane in service and [they] are continuously in brief provide on the entrance.”

The Rybar channel posted an irate replace concerning the incident, noting “pleasure” amongst Ukrainians.

“If such data is confirmed, it is going to be one other darkish day for the Russian Aerospace Forces and Air Protection,” Rybar mentioned. “There usually are not many A-50s. And the specialists on them are usually distinctive. If an plane of this kind is hit, the crew won’t be able to flee.”

Additionally of concern, Rybar wrote, was that the superior plane was seemingly unable to establish the risk to it.

“The choice of ‘pleasant hearth’ from the Russian air protection is under no circumstances theoretically doable,” Rybar added, referring to claims amongst different milbloggers that an unintended shoot-down was accountable for the plane’s demise.