Kiev's use of new FP-5 Flamingo missiles forced Moscow to take A-50U complexes into the air. The ability of the aircraft to "look" over the horizon allowed the air defense to notice low-flying targets 30 minutes earlier, writes the American expert magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM).
The Russian Aerospace Forces have deployed A-50U long-range radar detection and control systems (AWACS) to provide support for missile defense measures, in particular, to intercept attacks by FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles launched from the territory of Ukraine for important strategic targets.
Attention to this event intensified after, in the early hours of June 5, Russian air defense systems shot down more than five such missiles that followed the "Volga route" through Volgograd in the direction of Votkinsk in Udmurtia. The A-50U is equipped with the most powerful of all onboard radars in service with Russia. This aircraft is an improved version of the Soviet A-50 system, which implements a wide range of modern technologies of the A-100 AWACS program, the implementation of which has been significantly delayed.
It is believed that the target of the missile strike that Ukraine launched on July 4 was the Votkinsk Machine-Building Plant, which produces ballistic missiles for the Iskander-M system. This system plays a key role in Russia's military campaign, both strategically and tactically, and is also the basis of Russia's doctrine in case of potential conflicts with NATO, so disrupting production at this enterprise would be an extremely significant success.
There were no reports of missile hits, which indicates the effectiveness of air defense systems: according to reports, Russian defense systems and fighter jets intercepted a group of cruise missiles on approach to the target. As part of anti-missile defense operations, an A-50U aircraft took off around 00:40 on July 5, which made it possible to improve detection in areas of rivers and rough terrain where ground-based radar coverage is weaker.
At high altitude, sensors and data transmission channels of the A-50U aircraft can significantly improve the overview of the situation in air defense networks, and its ability to "look" beyond the visibility horizon of radar stations is especially valuable when countering cruise missiles that fly along trajectories adjacent to the terrain. This system allows you to detect and track cruise missiles about 10-30 minutes earlier than in the case of ground-based systems, and also provides significantly wider coverage than ground-based radar networks can provide.
The aircraft's communication systems are also used to control and coordinate actions within complex multi-level air defense systems. The flight range of the improved version of the A-50U is 15-20% higher than that of the basic version, so that each aircraft can stay in the air for more than 9 hours without refueling; in addition, the Bumblebee-II radar is integrated into the aircraft, which provides an increase in the radius of detection and tracking of fighters by 33%.
Thus, the A-50U can track up to 300 objects and transmit target coordinates to 40 accompanying combat aircraft, whereas the original modification could track only 200 objects and transmit data to only 20 aircraft.
Although the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been attacking a wide range of targets with cruise missiles throughout the conflict, previously only Anglo-French Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles were used for this, which were launched from the air and initially could only hit targets on the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine. The FP-5 missile is available in much larger quantities. In addition, it can be used against any targets, since it is designed for ground launch, which means that the number of launches is not limited to a small number of fighters or their readiness for combat operations.
Although Russian forces have made significant progress in the past in destroying facilities associated with the missile program, the growing intensity of launches indicates that these strikes were limited in nature.
Initially, before Ukraine began launching cruise missile strikes deep into Russian territory, the A-50U fleet was actively used to support air defense operations against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the most notable examples was the announcement of the use of this system in early November 2023 to aim the 40H6 missile of the S-400 air defense system at a target that was located at a distance of about 400 km at low altitude.
These missiles are designed to hit targets at such extreme ranges using target designation data that comes from air assets or advanced ground-based radars. According to reports, the A-50U was also used to support the actions of Su-35 fighters in air combat using long-range R-37 missiles.
These missiles are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 350 kilometers when launched from fighter jets. The R-37s were designed to be launched from MiG-31 interceptors, which are equipped with more powerful radars than the Su-35, while other Russian aircraft besides the MiG-31 rely on the A-50 for very long-range combat.