Recently, Russia suffered another major blow, an A50U AWACS aircraft was shot down, which is already the second in just over a month! Shockingly, these two incidents account for a quarter of the total number of Russian A50U AWACS aircraft! True, there are only 8 A50U AWACS aircraft in Russia. More worryingly, the number of A50U AWACS aircraft available to Russia has been reduced to 5 after an A50U AWACS aircraft was damaged by a drone of the Ukrainian army last year.
Why is the number of AWACS aircraft in Russia so scarce? In fact, the Soviet Union produced a total of 32 A-50 early warning aircraft, but with the change of the times, the performance of these aircraft gradually lagged behind, and the condition of the airframe was not satisfactory. It was not until the 21st century that the upgraded and improved A50U really became combat-ready. The upgrade program for the A50U began in 2008, with the first aircraft delivered in 2011. However, before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, only 7 aircraft were upgraded and improved, and after the outbreak of the war, one more was added, so there are only 8 A50U AWACS aircraft available in Russia.
The A-50U AWACS aircraft is a modification of the Il-76 transport aircraft, which is similar to the AWACS aircraft of other countries, such as our country's Air Police 2000 AWACS aircraft, so the two are similar in appearance.
Such frequent AWACS crashes have undoubtedly aroused people's attention and concern, and also made us think deeply about the importance of AWACS aircraft and the strength and challenges of the Russian Air Force. With the change of the situation and the progress of technology, we expect Russia to strengthen the maintenance and management of AWACS aircraft to ensure the security and stability of the country.