This act of sabotage has enraged Moscow: On Sunday, a Russian plane was apparently attacked by partisans in the Belarusian town of Machulishchi. Much damage has been done to the valuable Beriev A-50 spy plane. The attackers allegedly engaged the early warning aircraft at close quarters using two drones.
The machine “could no longer take off,” said Alexander Azarov, head of the Association of Security Forces of Belarus (Bypol). “This plane is very important and expensive,” he told the Russian news service “Nastoyasheye Vremya”. A Beriev A-50 costs almost 310 million francs. A modernized model (A-50U) is even worth almost 500 million Swiss francs.
It is a heavy blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin (70). While MiG-31 fighters occasionally take off from Minsk and fire hypersonic missiles into the Ukrainian war zone, the A-50 can do something even more precious. It is used to collect data about Ukraine and conduct missile strikes on Ukrainian territory. Russia has only a few such surveillance aircraft.
Powerful radar is the heart of the machine
Losing a machine hurts. “It’s a limited resource that’s in high demand,” Douglas Barrie of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London explained to the “Spiegel”.
A saucer-shaped antenna on the fuselage is what makes the aircraft so valuable. This is a powerful radar with a diameter of nine meters, which gives the crew an all-round view from a height of twelve kilometers. In concrete terms, this means that low-flying machines are discovered. According to military-today, the Beriev detects missiles at a distance of 800 kilometers, ships and aircraft can be detected up to 300 kilometers away.
The Ukrainian air defense mainly uses low-flying fighter jets during the war. “Even flying in Belarusian airspace, you can see far into Ukraine,” says Barrie.
Spy plane gives insight into Ukraine
The aircraft’s antenna collects all air and ground space data and simultaneously directs up to ten fighter jets. This has the advantage that the fighter jets themselves do not have to switch on their radar. The risk of them being discovered is considerably reduced.
According to Azarov, the valuable machine was brought to Belarus in January. It is used by the Russian army. The Belarusian army only takes care of the security of the device.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, 68, has already tightened border controls and ordered apartments in the area searched to find the alleged partisans, writes “Nastoyascheye Vremya”. Finally, he has to explain to his friend Putin how the attack could have happened.
Spare parts for the radar are missing due to sanctions
Belarusian security chief Azarov knows that the destroyed A-50U is not the only military aircraft at Matschulishchi airfield. “But it’s the only one of this model,” he explains. And there is another problem. The Beriev A-50 has long since been replaced by a better version: the A-100.
But because parts from the West are needed for the powerful radars, construction has stagnated. The question is whether the damaged A-50 will ever fly again. After all, spare parts are also needed for your antenna.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
