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Don’t forget about the importance of AWACS.

byDave Majumdar

Russia’s air force will start to receive new Beriev A-100 Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) aircraft starting around late 2020 or early 2021. The AWACS should significantly boost the capability of the Russian Air Force to gain and maintain air superiority when coupled with capable fighter aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-H and the Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E.

The Russian Ministry of Defense is expected to sign a production contract for the new AWACS, which would replace the Russian Air Force’s existing fleet of Beriev A-50 Mainstays sometime next year. “We expect a detailed discussion with the Defense Ministry of the A-100 aircraft serial deliveries contract by the end of this year or in 2019,” Yuri Slyusar, president of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, told the state-owned TASS news agency.

While the detailed negotiations between the Russian government and the manufacturer are expected later this year, Russian defense industry sources are confident that production aircraft will start to be delivered to the Russian Air Force in only a few years. “Serial supplies of the aircraft will start in 2020-2021,” a Russian defense industry source told TASS.

The A-100 should be a marked improvement in capability over the A-50. Based on the Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A, an improved and modernized the Il-76MD strategic airlifter that is manufactured in Ulyanovsk by Aviastar-SP in Russia rather than in the Uzbek city of Tashkent as it was during the Soviet-era. “Replacement of standard D-30KP2 engines with much more up-to-date PS-90A-76 ones, installation of a modified wing and a reinforced landing gear significantly extend the aircraft performance,” states thecompany’s description of the modernized airframe.