28.02.2023
A Russian AWACS aircraft was blown up in Belarus. After the incident, people want to know who wrote it? How important is this machine? How much early warning capability does Russia have?
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The Belarusian resistance government organization announced on Monday (February 27) that they used drones to blow up an A50 early warning aircraft of the Russian Air Force at an air force base 12 kilometers away from Minsk.
Alexander Azarau, the leader of the resistance organization BYPOL, posted on the Belarusian media in exile in Poland that two Belarusian guerrillas carried out the bombing, and the relevant operators had fled abroad and are currently safe. The above information has not been confirmed by an independent agency, and Moscow officials have not commented so far. Belarus borders Russia to the east and Ukraine to the south. Although Minsk did not directly participate in the Russo-Ukraine war, it allowed the Russian military to use its airspace and territory.
According to the news that can be confirmed so far, there is indeed a Russian A-50 early warning aircraft that was seriously damaged: its radar antenna, the front and the middle of the aircraft were hit by two bombs, and it is now unable to perform its mission. People also know through public satellite pictures that after Russia and Belarus conducted a joint military exercise, an A-50 of the Russian Air Force was parked near Minsk.
The post was posted by Tyler Rogoway, blogger and editor-in-chief of The War Zone, a US military blog. He also wrote that Russia has a total of about 50 A50 early warning aircraft, 10 of which can be launched at any time, and generally speaking, there is always one that stays in Syria to perform tasks.
The Russian A-50 “Bumblebee” early warning aircraft, code-named “Mainstay” in NATO, is an early warning aircraft developed on the basis of a transport aircraft. It has command and control capabilities, can fly for 9 to 10 hours, and detect up to 60 targets at the same time. The online military media “Military Today” (Military Today) pointed out that the aircraft forms the “spine” of Russia’s aerial reconnaissance, and each aircraft is worth as much as 500 million US dollars. For the Russian army, the destruction of the A-50 “Bumblebee” is the heaviest single loss since the flagship “Moscow” of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was sunk in April last year.
“Military Today” also pointed out that the A-50 “Bumblebee” early warning aircraft was first put into use in the 1980s and is currently in a state of being eliminated. The updated model is the A-50U. Russia plans to invest in a more advanced A-100, but this plan has been repeatedly delayed due to a lack of chips.
(comprehensive report)
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