Posted on 05/22/2016 4:15:38 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The plane is meant for detecting and tracking a number of aerial (fighter jets, bombers, ballistic and cruise missiles), ground (tank columns) and surface (above-water vessels) targets, informing command centers about the developments in the air and sea, and directing fighter and strike aviation.
It can also serve as a command center itself.
The A-50 plane is in essence a giant flying data processing center. It is literally stuffed with equipment which is operated by 10 men. The aircraft can also protect itself by means of electronic warfare. It has an aerial refueling system. The main feature of the aircraft is its circular rotating radar (rotodome), dubbed "mushroom" by its crews, above the fuselage. If the automatic system fails, an operator can rotate the radar with a special handle.
The A-50U, which made its maiden flight in 2011, is a further derivative of the A-50, which has been in service since 1989. The A-50 can spot targets at a distance of 800 kilometers and has an operational range of 7,500 kilometers.
In contrast with its predecessor, the A-50U is "sharper-sighted," can transfer data better and fly farther. Its exact characteristics are kept secret.
The A-50 has participated in different campaigns over 25 years. For example, the plane was used in the operation to eliminate Dzokhar Dudayev, the leader of terrorists in the First Chechen War, on April 21, 1996. An A-50 detected Dudayev's location by intercepting his phone call, and seconds later a Su-24 bomber destroyed the terrorist with a Kh-25 missile. Reportedly, the Russian Aerospace Forces currently maintain a fleet of 15 A-50 and three A-50U planes.
Much cooler looking than our awacs
I wonder how hardened it is to a local EMP.
It even has an UFO escape pod!
I really don’t want to agree with you .. but ....
I did not know until recently that Puting was an electronic engineer.
He is no dummy. But he will always be KGB.
Gotta give em their props. We used to joke at the circle bar w, that all the screens would show one really big plane flying under the radar center...
All his mannerisms indicate a sophistication superior to our statesmen
Remember, KGB.
AWAC-ski
Putin had a Soviet version of athletic scholarship to St. Petersburg University Law Department.
At times, people in sensitive positions, US included, have very unglamorous job titles, on purpose.
My father-in-law was an EE and intelligence officer in 101st Airborne. He spent 40 years in a weapons plant. For 15 years of that he was a division manager. His last job title was Chief Mechanic. smile
But this link doesn’t say anything about engineering except for putting the word into the title.
Wikipedia says
“Putin studied law at the Leningrad State University in 1970, and graduated in 1975.[29] Putin’s thesis was on “The Most Favored Nation Trading Principle in International Law”.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin
I got the athletic scholarship part from another article
“On the show, Shenderovich was discussing famed criminal and professional martial artist Leonid Usvyatsov, who is said to have trained Putin and modern-day oligarch Arkady Rotenberg: “This is Leonid Usvyatsov, who spent 20 years in prison. Between his two terms, he managed to take part in raising the future president of Russia. It was Usvyatsov who trained Vladimir Putin from age 16, and it was Usvyatsov who arranged for him, the son of a cleaning woman and a security guard, to get into Leningrad State University on an athletic scholarship.””
You can make of it what you want.
I had read he was RF engineer.
That could have meant he was “Russian Federation Engineer”.
If so, I took the wrong interpretation.
So, I am not sure now.
It’d be great for transporting Raiders fans.
RF engineering is part of the electrical engineering discipline which deals with transmissions in the radio frequency spectrum. They design radars, cell phones, wi-fi, just about anything that transmits.
Wow! “AWACskii”. Took an Il-76, filled in the chin greenhouse & stuck an AWACS-style radome on top.
Russians still love their Red Star. I would have kept the star but incorporated all three colors of the Russian flag.
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