The Russian military has deployed Beriev A-50 (NATO reporting name: Mainstay)airborne early warning and control (AEW) Ilyushin Il-22 aircraft and Airborne Command Post aircraft on the occupied Crimean peninsula.
According to dumskaya.net, the aircraft landed at the airbase Belbek near Sevastopol in Crimea. Â After the Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in March 2014, a fighter regiment of the 27th Mixed Aviation Division, flying Su-27s, was established at Belbek.
The A-50 aircraft was developed from the llyushin IL-76MD military transport aircraft manufactured by the Ilyushin Aviation Complex Joint Stock Company based in Moscow. The A-50 aircraft detects and identifies airborne objects, determines their coordinates and flight path data and transfers the information to command posts. The A-50 also acts as a control centre, guiding fighter-interceptors and tactical air force aircraft to combat areas in order to attack ground targets at low altitudes.
The Il-22 (Coot-B) is an airborne command post variant. It was developed by the Myasischev design bureau it was converted from the Il-18D and known as Il-18D-26 Bizon. The new modification of Il-22 will be able to selectively turn off the electronics of enemy airplanes and drones, as well as ground-based air defense systems.
