Russia lost three A-50 A-50U AWACS aircraft during the January-February 2024 special operation, an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by the Soviet Union based on the Il-76 transport aircraft. It was developed to replace the Tu-126 Moss, first flew in 1978 and entered service in 1985, with a total of 32 built in the former Soviet Union. According to public data, before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Russian army had only 9 A-50 series AWACS aircraft in service.
AWACS aircraft are mainly used to search for and monitor air or sea targets, and can command and guide other aircraft to carry out combat missions. Early warning aircraft play an important role in modern warfare and have become a mobile comprehensive information system integrating early warning, command and control, communications, and other functions. In modern information warfare, the early warning aircraft, as a key node in battlefield information acquisition and command and control, can be said to be the core center of modern air warfare (simply understood as the early warning aircraft discovers and makes judgments and directs fighters to attack targets). In the face of an increasingly complex battlefield environment, the combat system has also put forward higher requirements for early warning aircraft.
If Russia wants to cover the 600-mile front line of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it needs three AWACS systems that constantly patrol the air: one in the south, one in the east and one in the north, which also means that Russia needs at least nine AWACS aircraft. Now 3 A-50 early warning aircraft have been damaged in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which means that the number of A-50 early warning aircraft that the Russian army can use has been reduced to 6, which is equivalent to destroying the entire air surveillance system of the Russian army in a single direction.
Even when Russia still has 9 AWACS aircraft, the Russian army's air combat performance is also very sluggish, the reason is that the Russian army's A-50 series early warning aircraft are outdated, and they still use the most primitive mechanical scanning radar, which is difficult to detect low-altitude, low-speed and stealth targets, which has led to the Ukrainian army's long-range UAVs and missiles repeatedly bypassing interception to launch strikes on Russian targets in depth.
And now Russia's AWACS aircraft have dropped to 6, which is a major blow to the Russian Air Force, because the role of AWACS aircraft is too great.
For a number of reasons, the Russian army is not able to quickly increase the number of A-50 A-50U on the basis of the existing number of stocks. And the A-100, which is expected to be mass-produced, also has problems - it has now produced only one prototype and is testing it.
Taking into account the need for such an aircraft now, Russian experts suggested the adoption of a simplified AWACS aircraft, which is expected to be large in number, but limited in capabilities.
And the best way is to buy ready-made real AWACS aircraft, and only China can provide AWACS aircraft to the Russian army, so the Russian army wants to buy Air Police 500 with China.
Air Police-500 is the world's first digital active phased array concept of practical early warning aircraft model, a comprehensive surpass of the traditional active phased array radar, the technology through direct digital synthesis of signals, to achieve beam scanning and formation in space, in improving sensitivity and detection distance at the same time, but also reduce the weight of the equipment, Air Police-500 in the maximum take-off weight of only about one-third of the Air Police-2000 under the premise, the detection distance is roughly equivalent to the Air Police-2000, In conventional mode, the maximum detection range of about 470 km is reached.
Relying on this set of advanced airborne early warning radar system, the air police 500 can lock F22 and F35 at a distance of 200 kilometers, so that F22 and F35 have nothing to hide, before the J-20 intercepted F22 and F35 in the East China Sea, it was discovered by the Air Police 500, and then the J-20 went to intercept, if in wartime, the J-20 did not have to show up at all, and it could be destroyed F22 and F35 outside the visual range according to the command of the Air Police 500.
At the same time, the Air Police 500 is a three-sided array, which can detect 360 degrees at the same time, and the Air Police -500 has the ability to launch a launch and B guidance, that is, the fighter launches an air-to-air missile, and then it is guided by the early warning aircraft, and finally strikes the enemy aircraft. With an Air Police -500 as the core, it is combined with several J-20 and J-16D to form a tactical unit with strong combat effectiveness. Once a large number of tactical units are used to carry out a round assault on the US aircraft group, the US military's front-line target is extremely dangerous, and the entire aircraft group is in danger of being broken by each one.
Kenneth Wells, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Force, once commented on the Air Police 500:
The Air Police-500's air command and control capabilities play an important role in certain combat areas, and can also assist with ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, and I am interested in how to break this over-the-horizon kill chain."
Starting from the Air Police -500, China's early warning aircraft has been ahead of the United States 2nd generation (Air Police 2000 early warning command aircraft chief designer army language) is the world's strongest early warning aircraft, not to mention how far apart the A-50 A-50U and the Air Police 500 is.
The Air Police 500 is so advanced, if China really gives it to the Russian army, then this is the situation that the US military is most afraid of, however, since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, China has not sold any equipment to Russia, and China's own Air Police 500 is not much, and the probability is very low.
So some Russian netizens commented:
A country with a population of 1.5 billion and an economic leader built only 30 aircraft. This shows that it is expensive, but also that China is unlikely to sell it to anyone.Some Russian netizens said that not only early warning aircraft, but also China can provide Russia with first-class aircraft, transport aircraft, and cutting-edge high-altitude research aircraft. China can also help Russia with AI-based **, ammunition, vehicles and equipment. In addition, China can hand over any ** to Russia to test its efficiency, accuracy, lethality, etc. In this way, valuable combat experience can be shared, which will be helpful for China to recover China's Taiwan in the future. This is a "win-win" agreement for both Russia and China.
For the United States, if China agrees to sell arms to Russia, this is what it fears the most, but China has said before that China insists on maintaining neutrality on the Ukraine issue, advocates resolving disputes through negotiations, and will not provide military support to Russia because of narrow interests.