Russian war commentator Andrei Mitrofanov is, of course, mainly engaged in propaganda and appeasing the Russian population. But some of his insights are actually quite interesting because they show what Russia is worried about. For example, several F-16 fighter jets will appear in Ukraine very soon and it worries Russians.
The Polish site Tech.wp.pl reviewed Andrei Mitrofanov’s comments about the F-16 in Ukraine and found that Russians understand that Ukraine will receive just a few Western fighter jets and they will not change the course of the war. This is true, by the way, and no one said otherwise.
Ukraine should be getting its first batch of F-16s very soon. Image credit: Georgia National Guard via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)
However, Mitrofanov fears that Ukrainian F-16s will target the Russian early warning and control airplanes Beriev A-50, which operate in the airspace of Russia and Belarus without much fear. It is like a big radar station in the sky, and these planes help Russia conduct missile attacks in Ukraine, look for Ukrainian air defense systems, and track the movement of Ukrainian aircraft.
Up until now, the biggest threat to A-50s has been local Belarusian and Russian activists.
The AIM-120 AMRAAM missile launched by the F-16 has a range of about 100 km. Just a little factoid.
Ukraine has a good air defense system and it is only getting stronger. As a result, Russian planes often fly very low over the occupied territories and are, one might say, blind. The A-50 flies much farther but also higher and monitors the situation for them. It determines the locations of air defence systems, spots upcoming Ukrainian planes and missiles. It would be much more difficult for Russia to plan air operations in Ukraine and to detect Ukrainian cruise missile launches if it did not have the A-50.
The Beriev A-50 took off for its maiden flight in 1978 and entered service in 1985. This plane is just an Il-76 with powerful radar equipment capable of tracking aircraft (planes, cruise missiles) at a distance of 230-250 km.
The A-50 can monitor up to 150 targets at the same time and broadcast this information to ten other aircraft and ground stations. For example, the A-50 can tell fighter jets that Ukrainian planes are approaching up to intercept them. Or that the air defense is working. Or that cruise missiles are flying towards the illegal Crimean bridge.
In total, less than 40 such planes were made before 1992 and Russia now actively uses maybe 10-16. Some sources indicate that Russia now has fewer than 10 operational A-50s left. The A-50 also serves in the Indian Air Force.
If Ukrainian F-16s shoot down at least one A-50, it will be a great victory and a huge blow to the ability of Russian military aviation to operate in Ukraine. It won’t be easy though, because the A-50 can spot fighter jets coming towards it from hundreds of kilometres away.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: Tech.wp.pl, Wikipedia