The Russian Air Force's New Radar Plane Isn't Actually New
This overhauled Beriev A-50U was already part of the active fleet
Russia went to war in February 2022 with potentially just seven Beriev A-50U radar early warning planes
The A-50Us use fuselage-mounted radars to watch for Ukrainian warplanes and drones
In a series of attacks going back more than three years, the Ukrainians may have knocked out nearly half of the A-50Us
The recent refurbishment of one A-50U doesn’t alter the overall math as Russia gradually loses its eyes in the sky
On or just before May 31, the Russian air force took delivery of a refurbished Beriev A-50U radar early warning plane. The A-50U may have undergone rework at the Beriev plant in Taganrog or the 123rd Aircraft Repair Plant in Staraya Russa.
The delivery of a refreshed A-50U doesn’t actually reverse the decline of the Russian early warning fleet, however. The overhauled A-50U the air force accepted last month—serial number RF-92957, it seems—was already an active airframe in the slowly shrinking A-50U fleet.
In a series of actions beginning in February 2023, Ukrainian drones and missiles have destroyed two, and damaged another one or two, of the seven A-50Us in the pre-war active fleet. It’s possible one older, formerly grounded A-50 has re-entered the flyable inventory in the meantime.
Sustaining one of the seven pre-war A-50Us by way of regular overhaul preserves but doesn’t grow the depleted force, which is now down to no more than six A-50Us, assuming all the damaged planes have been repaired. In the unlikely worst case for the Russians, they possess just three active and undamaged A-50Us as well as two damaged ones.
