The Russian government run United Aircraft Corporation has delayed an urgent program to resume serial production of a modernised variant of the A-50 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems, with the corporation’s general designer and deputy general director Sergey Korotkov providing details on the program’s future in a recent interview. “There is no decision on the serial production of the A-50 at this stage,” he stated, adding that final determination would come only after ongoing development work is completed. He elaborated that many of the aircraft’s onboard systems are still in testing, with production plans set to remain on hold until they meet the required performance standards. The Russian AEW&C fleet remains far more limited in its capabilities than those of China and the United States, as not only are far less of the systems in service, but the diversity of operational systems and their capabilities are also much more limited.
Although a successor to the A-50 designated the A-100 made its maiden flight in November 2017, and subsequently made its first flight using its new sensor suite in February 2022, the program has continued to face considerable delays due primarily to deficiencies in Russia’s electronics industry. The aircraft was expected to provide superior reliability, greater immunity to jamming, a much longer detection range and higher levels of automation than its predecessor, with both it and the A-50 being based on the same Il-78 airframe. Many of the technologies developed for the A-100 have been used to modernise Soviet-built A-50 aircraft to the A-50U standard, which has significantly improved situational awareness and increased its detection range against fighter sized targets from 400km to over 700km. The A-50U’s capabilities have been extensively combat tested in Ukraine, although Ukrainain and Western sources have claimed that two of the systems were shot down by long range surface-to-air missile systems, including one by a Soviet S-200 system.
AEW&Cs are considered highly valuable force multipliers for air operations, and not only provide greater situational awareness to the wider force, but also command and control, while being able to guide missiles launched by both fighters and air defences towards their targets. Their continuous radar illumination of targets also allows them to be used for targeting without alerting the radar warning receivers of the targets. The utility of the A-50U for missile guidance has been demonstrated in the Ukrainain theatre, where it is relied on heavily to guide 40N6 surface-to-air missiles from the S-400 system, and R-37M missiles launched by Su-35 fighters, which both have 400 kilometre ranges. Although Russian MiG-31BM interceptors have particularly powerful radars comparable to those of lighter AEW&Cs, and do not need such support, theradars on other assets such as S-400s and Su-35s are insufficient for targeting at more extreme ranges, which makes support from AEW&C systems like the A-50U vital. It has been speculated that a cause for delays in refining the A-50’s onboard systems has been the need to incorporate lessons from combat in Ukraine in to the planned adjustments.