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The 'Beriev A-50 Shmel' ( 'bumble bee') (NATO reporting name: Mainstay) is a Russian airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport. Developed to replace the Tupolev Tu-126 (a variant of the Tu-95 bomber), the A-50 first flew in 1980. It entered service in 1984, with about 40 produced by 1992.
The mission personnel of the 15-man crew derive data from the large Liana surveillance radar with its antenna in an over-fuselage rotordome, which has a diameter of 29 ft 9 in (9.00 m).
The A-50 can control up to 10 fighter aircraft. The A-50 is capable of flying for 4 hours at a 1000 km from its base at a maximum takeoff weight of 190 tons. The aircraft can theoretically be refuelled by Il-78 tankers, although flight tests showed that aerial refueling was all but impossible because the rotodome would hit turbulence from the tanker, causing severe buffeting.^[1]

The radar "Vega-M" is designed by MNIIP, Moscow, and produced by NPO Vega-M. The "Vega-M" is capable of tracking up to 50 targets simultaneously within 230 kilometers. Large targets, like surface ships, can be tracked at a distance of 400 km.
Electronics by Beriev's OKB.
The A-50 looks very similar to the SKIP aircraft (the fore cockpit should have no glass).

★ Long range search radar for naval and air targets at minimal altitude;

★ Link with Automated Control System;

★ Guides Air Force aircraft, anti-missile defenses, and provide target designation for a fleet;

★ In-flight refueling;

★ Other uses;

Contents

Domestic Variants

'A-50I'

Origin

Current Status

Specifications (A-50)

Operators

External links

References

External links

Related content

Domestic Variants

★ 'A-50U' - updated variant.

★ 'SKIP' - ''Airborn Measure and Control Point''. Fixed radar cover filled with another equipment. Navigator cockpit preserved.

'A-50I'

This is the version of A-50 for China. The first export of A-50, and it is also the only export of A-50 up to date (As of 2006). The name is western. The Chinese indigenously converted 'A-50I's from Ilyushin Il-76 transports and these converted airplanes are powered by Soloviev D-30 engines used on the transport version.

Origin

The original plan was to have Israel Aircraft Industries upgrade the Ilyushin Il-76 with Elta Electronic Industries' IAI Phalcon Active Electronically Scanned Array, which is a fixed radar antenna of three active phased arrays. The radar can track 60 targets simultaneously up to 370 km away for targets with a radar cross section of 3 square metres. A total of 4 aircraft were planned with the first and the possibly the second being upgraded in Israel, and the remaining in China. China gave Israel a quarter of a billion dollars for the down payment and the total deal cost at least a billion dollars. However, under US pressure, Israeli canceled the deal in early 2000s, and had to return the money, but it remains unclear how much penalty payment Israel paid to China. Israel did provide China a set of desert drip irrigation systems, and although both China and Israel denied that this was not part of the penalty payment, it was generally viewed by outsiders as so.

Current Status

Although the A-50I for China was cancelled, the experienced obtained was still valuable for Israel in that the important knowledge was gained for integrating the Israeli radar to the Ilyushin Il-76 airframe and Israel continued to advertise the Il-76 AWACS platform as an option to other potential customers finally bagging Israel's biggest export order with India for the Phalcon AEW system mounted on Il 76. The same important knowledge gained by the Chinese participation in the program was also valuable to China in that KJ-2000, the Chinese replacement for A-50I after the cancellation, had the exact same radar configuration.

Specifications (A-50)

Operators

★

★
★ Russian Air Force - 19 in service

External links

★ www.aviation.ru

★ Source article of NVO

★ TNTK named after Beriev is the responsible contractor

★ Avionics by ELTA Electronics Industries Ltd. (division of Israel Aircraft Industries, ltd.).

★ www.red-stars.org

References

1. [Ilyushin IL-76, Russia's Versatile Airlifter, Aerofax]

External links

★ NATO AWACS-Spotter Geilenkirchen website

Related content

'Related development:'
Ilyushin Il-76
'Comparable aircraft:'
E-3 Sentry
'Designation sequence (Beriev):'
A-40 -
'A-50' -
A-60
'Designation sequence (Ilyushin):'
Il-76 -
Il-78 -
Il-80 -
'Il-82' -
Il-86 -
Il-87 -
Il-96