The Russian A-100 Premier, an advanced Airborne Early Warning, and Control aircraft is now in the final stages of the harsh testing phase.
The Beriev Aircraft Company in cooperation with Vega Radio Engineering Corporation has developed the A-100, which, ultimately, is to replace the older A-50 ‘Mainstay’ and further intensify airborne surveillance capabilities in Russia.
The A-100 is fitted with the most advanced Vega Premier AESA radar, which at the same time can operate with long and short-range radar surveillance of up to 301 targets within a distance of 550 km.
The radar mounted on the S-wave range is a phased array-based type that can distinguish between targets using different types of image intensifiers between 0.1 sq. m up to 200 km and large surface targets like destroyers at 450 km. Its synthetic scanning mode maximizes the detection ability of ground targets.
The A-100 has four Aviadvigatel PS-90A-76 turbofans with a range of 4,250 to 4,750 km and more than 10.5 hours of endurance without refueling.
The aircraft itself is capable of doing target designation for Russian fighters and land-based systems for over-the-horizon intercepts through its electronic reconnaissance capabilities.
The A-100 project has experienced some tremendous setbacks mainly on account of the sanctions internationally and some technical setbacks.
The first flight happened in November 2017, and the entire radar system became operational in February 2022. It is expected to become operational and go into mass production soon.
With such a valuable resource, although Russian Aerospace Forces did suffer in the rare reverse when one of their A-50U aircraft crashed recently, again this incident brings the focus back on that kind of treasured asset that made the vulnerabilities of key assets visible, as one saw when Ukraine Air Force forces brought an A-50U titled Sergey Atayants down across the Sea of Azov.
Indeed, very similar to the downing of 1969, it was by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force whereby American forces brought down the EC-121 near the demarcation line of Korea.
Improvements: It has been actively present since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, always monitoring and targeting the space over the territory of the conflict; it includes variant A-50U if the same variants lost their presence with a combination of being destroyed on the Il-22 airborne command post.
The rate at which Russian Defence could replace those aircraft. It marks a very big leap by Russia in terms of airborne surveillance technologies.
Now it marks the next important operational status as the A-100 Premier is soon set for operations.
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