It's been standing in a hangar for eight months, and we don't mind.
Yesterday, Russian military Telegram channels spread a video of the first flight of another modernized A-50U AEW&C aircraft for the Russian Aerospace Forces.
According to our data, this was the aircraft with registration number RF-50606 (tail number – 51 red). This “old” A-50 arrived at the plant of the Beriev Aircraft Company in Taganrog at the end of 2021. The scheduled time for finishing modernization was to be two years.
Rostec reported on the completion of modernization of this aircraft exactly one month ago – September 22, 2023, but the video has appeared only now.
Thus, given the time it takes to re-equip this type of aircraft and the pace of modernization (this aircraft became the eighth “U” in the Russian Aerospace Forces), we may assume that the A-50U (RF-50608, 43 red) that was damaged on February 26, 2023 in Machulishchy is still in Taganrog since March 2, 2023. Probably only now, eight months later, it will be its turn, and they will begin repairing the aircraft. Only if Russia has resources for this.
During the war, a total of five AEW&C aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces were spotted in Belarus at different times. All of them were already modernized A-50U versions.
During the modernization, the A-50U receive new:
- piloting and navigation complex;
- radio-electronic stuffing of radars (mostly from foreign-made components);
- control and signal system;
- LCD displays instead of CRT;
- resting places and buffet.
