Scratch Another Russian A-50U Radar Plane?
As Ukraine knocks out more of the A-50Us, Russian forces are slowly going blind.
Russia went to war in February 2022 with potentially just seven Beriev A-50U radar planes
The A-50Us use top-mounted radars to watch for Ukrainian warplanes and drones
In a series of attacks going back three years, the Ukrainians may have knocked out more than half of the A-50Us
A drone strike last week reportedly damaged a fourth A-50U on the ground in western Russia
Sortieing drones deep inside Russia on March 17, Ukrainian forces may have damaged one of the few Beriev A-50U radar planes left in the Russian air force’s depleted inventory. Moscow’s air force isn’t blind. But it may be more blind than it was just a few days ago.
One of potentially five surviving A-50Us was on the tarmac at the 123rd Aviation Repair Plant in Staraya Russa, in Novgorod Oblast 630 km from the Russia-Ukraine border, when drones attacked. There was “confirmed damage to the aircraft,” as the drones apparently punched holes in the roof of a large hangar, the Ukrainian general staff reported.
The four-engine plane, which boasts a top-mounted radar and room for 15 crew, “was on the company’s property for maintenance and was perhaps awaiting an upgrade,” the general staff stated. If the damage is serious, the A-50U could prove difficult or impossible to repair. That would reduce the Russian A-50U fleet to potentially just four flyable planes: possibly too few for around-the-clock monitoring of the air space over Ukraine.
