Beriev A-50 Mainstay
The A 50 Mainstay SDRLO (Long Range Detection System) aircraft is based on a stretched Ilyushin IL-76 Transport in widespread service with Soviet Forces combined with an upgraded "Flat Jack" radar system. Developed to replace the TU-126 Moss (a variant of the Bear bomber), the Mainstay first flew in 1980. It was estimated that at least 12 were in service by 1990, with an annual production rate of five machines per year and about 40 produced by 1992.
The aircraft's wings are high-mounted, swept-back, and tapered with blunt tips. There are four turbofan engines mounted on pylons under and extending beyond the wings’ leading edges. The fuselage is long, round and tapered to the rear with a radome on the chin. There is a saucer type radome on top of the aircraft. There is a stepped-up cockpit. The fail flats are swept-back and tapered with blunt tips high-mounted on the swept-back, tapered fin, forming a T. The aircraft can stay aloft without refueling for four to six hours and can remain airborne for another four hours with mid-air refueling. The aircraft has a maximum range of 1,800 kilometers, while the radar has a detection range of up to 800 kilometers, and can track 200 targets simultaneously.
The Mainstay is not as sophisticated as its western counterpart, the E-3 Sentry, but provides Russian Fighter Regiments with an airborne control capability over both land and water. It has a far better electronic and sensor fit than the Tu-126, and fitted with a new IFF system and a comprehensive ECM suite, the Il-76 is equipped for inflight refuelling to achive maximum endurance. Intended to direct Soviet fighter aircraft over battlefields in Europe or Asia, the Il-76 controlled MiG-29 and MiG-31 interceptors.
Mainstays have been used by the Russian Air Force at bases in the Kola Peninsula and for observing Allied air operations during the 1991 Gulf War from bases in Ukraine. In 1994 NATO proposed making the E-3 Sentry and the Beriev Mainstay interoperable to enable Russia to provide AEW&C support to future United Nations or coalition operations.
A-50U Mainstay-B
The improved A-50U, featuring the Vega Shmel-M radar, first entered service in 1995, this radar is believed to a have the capacity to track between 50 to 60 targets and control between 10 to 12 fighters simultaneously. China was reported to have ordered four A-50/A-50M/U aircraft from Russia, but there are no substantiated reports of deliveries as of early 2004. Some sources claim that an improved A-50U was expected to be introduced by 2005.
Beriev 976 SKIP Mainstay-C
The Aircrat 976 Mainstay-C is not realy an AWACS. It is an aircraft spesialized to track missiles and a mobile ATC station. The Mainstay-C can be easily recognised since its retain the glazed nose and is painted in Aeroflot colors. This SKIP [Airborn Measure and Control Point] has a fixed radar cover filled with other equipment. Russian Air Force aircraft have horizontally-mounted aerodynamic surfaces extending from the fuselage sides behind the main undercarriage housing. They serve to compensate the effect of the rotodome on aircraft handling. The similarly configured Ilyushin/Beriev 976 Mainstay-C missile tracking variant does not have any such additional stabilizing surfaces, possibly as a consequence of different mass distribution within the rotodome and the fuselage of the 976.
The Soviets had long used modified Ilyushin Il-18 turboprops rigged with electronic gear to monitor the telemetry from missile and space launches. When these machines were finally retired, two Candid-Bs were converted to a similar configuration, with an antenna dome on the tail and various antennas littered over the airframe. These machines were simply known as "Aircraft 676" and "Aircraft 776".
Following this exercise, the Soviets decided to modify five Il-76MDs to a more capable tracking and telemetry configuration, also with a litter of antennas but this time including the Shmel "toadstool" radome. These machines were designated "Aircraft 976", or "SKIP" for "samolyotniy komahndno ismereetelniy poonkt (airborne measurement and control station)". They were also referred to as "Il-76SK", "Il-976", or "Be-976", the Beriev OKB having been involved in the conversion.
Although some sources incorrectly identified the Aircraft 976 aircraft as AWACS platforms, the similarity of these machines to the A-50 was somewhat superficial, effectively limited to the Shmel radome. They had nose glazing, cargo doors, and a tail turret station, though the cannon were yanked and replaced with an antenna dome. They were fitted with wingtip pods, like those of the Il-76PP Chipmunks, and also with a set of L-shaped antennas on each side of the tailfin. They did not have the vent in the tailfin extension. They appeared in Aeroflot colors though they were clearly not civil machines.
A-50M
The decree of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union Communist Party and the USSR Council of Ministers dated 9 January 1984 ordered the Beriev company to develop an upgraded A-50M aircraft, fitted with the Shmel-2 radar and powered by the D-90 engines (now known as the PS-90A). The new radar system, being developed by MNIIP, the flagship enterprise of the Vega Scientific Production Association, was to provide a greater detection range and magnification of the targets tracked, as well as to feature a capability of guiding more fighters to the targets. In addition to the new radar system the platform proper, its integrated flight and navigation system, and ECM suite were also considerably improved.
The draft design of the new A-50M aircraft (product 2A) was developed as far back as 1984, and its mock-up was built the same year. In order to test the new radar, the new LL “2A” flying testbed, based on the LL “A” (Tu-126), was built in 1987. The Tashkent Aircraft Production Corporation started to build the A-50M prototype, which was to undergo tests in 1989. The flight tests over, about three dozen production A-50Ms were planned to have been produced by the turn of the century.
On 10 September 2008 RIA Novosti reported that Russia had started official testing of its modernized A-50M Mainstay AWACS aircraft for the country's Air Force. The A-50 Mainstay is a Russian airborne warning and control system aircraft based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane. Russia adopted the aircraft in 1984, and the Air Force currently had 16-20 A-50 planes, according to various reports. "The A-50M is the most complex aircraft and we have successfully modernized it," said Vladimir Verba, general director of the Vega Radio Engineering Corp. "The aircraft is undergoing official tests at present and has shown excellent performance so far." The modernization of the A-50M focused on the replacement of outdated analogue equipment with digital electronics systems. "We have greatly improved the processing of the information and significantly decreased the processing time," Verba told RIA Novosti.
Foreign Sales
The Baghdad-1 variant was an Iraqi Il-76MD airframe modified as an AEW platform through the addition of a Thomson-CSF Tigre surveillance radar mounted behind a blister radome in place of the aft clamshell doors, radar system crew included four operators and allowed monitoring a 180° sweep out to 190 nm (350 km); one was converted but deemed unsuccessful due to unspecified problems. The Adnan variant were Iraqi Il-76 airframes modified as AEW aircraft by mounting a 29.5 ft (9 m) diameter rotating radome atop the fuselage; 3 converted but 1 was destroyed during the 1991 Gulf War and the other two fled to Iran where they still remain.
An Il-76M/Candid-B aircraft was delivered to Israel in 1999 to install the Phalcon radar and other avionics systems for China in the A-50I AWACS configuration. Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) developed its Phalcon system for Israeli defence forces and for export. Airborne Early Warning, Command and Control (AEWC&C) systems play a major role on the modern battlefield by providing realtime intelligence command and control needed to achieve and maintain air superiority over the combat area, and to enable surveillance of borders in peacetime. The AWE&C phased array radar replaces the conventional rotodome radar. It is mounted either on the aircraft fuselage, or on top of the aircraft inside a stationary dome, providing full 360° coverage. This electronically steered beam radar, offers a tremendous advantage over mechanical rotating antenna, as it supports the tracking high maneuvering targets. The radar can detect even low flying objects from distances of hundreds of kilometers, day and night, under all weather conditions. Verification beams sent at specific, individual, newly detected targets, eliminate false alarms. Moreover, track initiation is achieved in 2 to 4 seconds as compared to 20 to 40 seconds with a rotodome radar. This system had been sold to Chile, where it is designated as "Condor.
Israel coordinates its defense sales with Washington, which vetoed the sale to China. A diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Israel, followed that veto. The uncompleted aircraft was left in Israel since the deal with China was cancelled in 2000, and eventually delivered to China in 2002 in the original Il-76M/Candid-B configuration.
In September 2000 it was reported that Rosvoorouzhenie, Russia’s arms-exporting company, had entered negotiations with China to lease a pair of A-50 aircraft, as a replacement for the Israeli Phalcon. The terms of the lease to China were expected to be finalized as soon as late November or December 2000.
In early April 2000 Russia reached preliminary agreement to lease two A-50 aircraft to the Indian Air Force to step up its aerial surveillance on the border with Pakistan. India conducted trials of the A50 in July 2000, and the results were reportedly satisfactory. Beriev was to produce three A-50E AEW aircraft for India with IAI of Israel providing the aircraft’s electronic systems. The A-50E airborne early warning and contol aircraft is intended to perform the following missions: detection, tracking and IFF determination of the air and surface targets, surveilance, command, control and communication functions for both commands posts of automatic control systems, guidance of fighters to air targets and attack aviation to serface targets.
In early 2002, the U.S. requested that Israel postpone the proposed $1.2 billion Phalcon deal, because of increasing tension between India and Pakistan. Since then it had been frozen, waiting for U.S. approval. The Israeli-made Phalcon radar would extend the range of the Indian air force, enabling very long-range identification of targets and control over the weapons aimed at them. There is no American equipment on the Russian planes.
In mid-2003 the US approved the sale of the Israeli produced Phalcon airborne radar system to India. In October 2003 Russia, India and Israel signed an agreement for supply to India 3 A-50 aircraft (based on Ilyushin-76 airplane) for long-distance radiolocation control, detection and guidance. At the request of the Indian party, the aircraft will be equipped with low-noise and fuel-efficient PS-90A-76 engines instead of usually provided D-30KP engines. A part of the revenue obtained from the deal will be received by the manufacturer of the PS-90A-76 engines - Perm Engine Company.
