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KYIV — The Ukrainian Air Drive shot down a Russian A-50 long-range radar detection and management airplane and an IL-22 command airplane over the Sea of Azov on Sunday night, Ukrainian Military Commander in Chief Valery Zaluzhny mentioned in an announcement.
“I’m grateful to the air power for the peerlessly deliberate and executed operation within the Azov Sea area!” he mentioned.
In accordance with the sooner reviews the A-50 was downed, whereas the IL-22 might have managed to land someplace in Russia. Russian pro-war channels claimed that the IL-22 managed to land, however there have been wounded on board.
Though the Kremlin has not confirmed it but, Ukrainian Air Drive Commander Mykola Oleshchuk mentioned in a cryptic message: “That is for Dnipro, monsters. Burn in hell! Can’t present particulars but.”
He illustrated his message with a airplane emoji and a photograph of a civilian constructing that Russians hit with a missile in Dnipro on January 14 final 12 months, killing greater than 30 folks.
Yuriy Mysiahin, a Ukrainian MP and a member of the parliament’s protection committee, had extra particulars. In accordance with his assertion, round 9 p.m. on Sunday, Ukrainian forces fired at two Russian navy plane — an A-50 and an IL-22, which was shadowing the radar airplane as each had been flying over the Sea of Azov.
“The A-50 was shot down, and the IL-22M was broken, however it was within the air and tried to achieve the closest airfield, however it disappeared from the radar after the descent started, within the Kerch space of Crimea,” Mysiahin mentioned in an announcement.
Russian pro-war telegram channels up to now are divided on what occurred over Azov. Some, like Russian aviation blogger and navy pilot Fighterbomber had been “mourning the tragedy” whereas channels like Rybar mentioned that “if the downing is confirmed … this will likely be one other black day for the Russian Air Drive and Air Protection Forces.”
“A tragedy is all the time a tragedy particularly when it’s of such a scale. Who’s in charge for the deaths of the pilots, we’ll probably by no means discover out. To the useless I want the everlasting flight, to the wounded, a speedy restoration and return to service,” Fighterbomber mentioned.
A-50 is a high-value goal; it’s a four-engine jet-propelled plane, geared up with a rotating radar that scans 360 levels, detecting radars and potential targets within the air and on land. It has a 15-person crew. In accordance with totally different estimates, Russia had between 10 and 12 of the radar planes as of 2022. In March 2023, Ukrainian saboteurs broken one A-50 parked on an airfield in Machulishchi, Belarus with a drone.
“In easy phrases, it is a highly effective radar that may detect targets at a 200-400 km distance as it’s raised by an plane to a peak of as much as 12 km. The radar sees a lot additional than floor stations,” Ukrainian aviation professional and blogger Vitaly Trubnikov informed POLITICO.
“A-50 can transmit the coordinates of targets to fighters whose radar is much less highly effective and can’t see at such distances. Additionally, it may conduct radio-electronic reconnaissance (EPR), for instance, detect the coordinates of enemy floor radars. It is usually geared up with digital warfare gear. Along with all this, a specifically skilled crew that is aware of the right way to handle all this advanced and costly gear can also be precious,” he added.
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