The United Kingdom Intelligence services said in January that the Beriev A-50 helped Russian operations in Ukraine by providing early warning of threats and acting as a command and control post.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced on February 23 that it had brought down a Russian A-50 military aircraft over the Sea of Azov. This was the second A-50 and the third airborne control center, after an Il-22, that Ukraine had downed in the same area since January 14.
This was a significant achievement, and Commander Mykola Oleshchuk thanked everyone who participated, because he considers that the downed Russian A-50 was vital for the war in Ukraine, as it performed tasks such as detecting air defense systems and coordinating targets for the Russian air forces. Russia only had nine of these aircraft.
Ukraine also reported that it had downed several fighter jets in February: a Su-34 on February 21, another Su-34 and a Su-35S on February 19, a Su-34 on February 18, and two Su-34 and one Su-35 on February 17.
In early 2023, Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko admitted that a drone attack on the Machulishchi base, near Minsk, had damaged an A-50.
The A-50 Beriev, which often appeared in Red Square military parades, were Soviet early warning and control aircraft. They had a radar that could track 150 targets at the same time within 230 kilometers, and detect enemy aircraft more than 600 kilometers away. Independent sources said that the USSR made 40 of these aircraft, but some were sold, so Russia had less than 9 in service.
The Il-22 was a four-engine bomber that the Soviet Union modified to use as an air command post.
The Ukrainian army used artillery, aerial combat, and notorious sabotage operations against airfields in Russian territory, including Crimea, which Russia had annexed, to shoot down enemy aircraft.
The United Kingdom Intelligence services said in January that the Beriev A-50, or A-50 Mainstay in NATO terminology, helped Russian operations in Ukraine by providing early warning of threats and acting as a command and control post.
They said that the Mainstay’s radar could locate enemy aircraft farther than the SA-21’s ground radar, because its altitude gave it a peripheral vision beyond the earth’s curvature. They also said that Russia had sped up the integration of the Mainstay and the SA-21 because it worried about Ukraine using combat aircraft that the West had delivered.
