| A-50 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) 41 Taganrog, registration number RF-94268, a Beriev A-50U | |
| General information | |
| Type | Airborne early warning and control |
| Manufacturer | Beriev |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users | Russian Aerospace Forces |
| Number built | ~40[citation needed] |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1978–1992[clarification needed] |
| Introduction date | 1985[1] |
| First flight | 19 December 1978[1] |
| Developed from | Ilyushin Il-76 |
| Developed into | Beriev A-100 |
The Beriev A-50 (NATO reporting name: Mainstay) is a Soviet-origin airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft that is based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane. Developed to replace the Tupolev Tu-126 "Moss", the A-50 first flew in 1978. Its existence was revealed to the Western Bloc in 1978 by Adolf Tolkachev.[2] It entered service in 1985, with about 40 produced by 1992.[citation needed]
- ^ a b "А-50". Уголок неба [Corner of the Sky] (in Russian). n.d. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- ^ Hoffman, David E. (May 2016). "Epilogue | A Note On The Intelligence". The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal (First ed.). New York City: Doubleday. pp. 525–532. ISBN 978-0-385-53760-5. LCCN 2015003370. OCLC 906798006. OL 27183902M – via Internet Archive. p. 530:
In another intelligence windfall, Tolkachev was the first to alert the United States that the Soviet Union was starting to develop an advanced airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, a flying radar station. Once Tolkachev pointed it out, U.S. spy satellites confirmed it. The twenty-ton radar, named SHMEL, or "bumblebee," would be carried on a modified Ilyushin Il-76 military transport jet, with a flying disk for the radar dome, not unlike the advanced U.S. E-3 Sentry system, based on a modified Boeing 707, which was already flying.