A-50U.

This is coolbert:

“'Another valuable Russian A-50U aircraft was shot down over the Sea of Azov,' . . . 'The downing of the A-50U is another serious blow to the potential and capabilities of terrorist Moscow,'”

Yet one more Russian very scarce and valuable military AWACS warplane gone? Second in two months?

AWACS = Airborne warning and control system.

"Ukraine military destroys Russian surveillance plane"

 From https://english.alarabiya.net 23 February, 2024.

"Ukraine said Friday it had shot down an A-50U Russian spy plane over the Sea of Azov, and shared a map appearing to show it had crashed over southern Russia."

"Moscow made no official comment, but authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said fire crews were at the scene of an air crash, without elaborating."

"The A-50 is a Russian reconnaissance plane, equivalent to the AWACS (Airborne warning and control system) plane used by NATO."

Apparently this is NOT merely a rehash of a news item from January. As reported then a Russian A-50 shot of the sky by some sort of Ukrainian launched missile. Here however we are talking about a SECOND A-50 gone from hostile fire?

The Ukrainians have a secret weapon at their disposal? Perhaps a long-range air-to-air missile BVRAAM as supplied by a source whose identity has yet to be determined.

See previous blog entries the loss of the A-50 Mainstay in January:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2024/01/m-c.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2024/01/bvraam.html

coolbert.