The pro-Kremlin milblogger “FighterBomber,” who has links to Russia’s aerospace forces (VKS), said on Telegram on Tuesday that Su-35S fighter aircraft (NATO: Flanker) were being used for airborne radar reconnaissance missions. The role is normally assigned to the purpose-built A-50U Beriev (NATO: Mainstay) airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C).
It was more than a year following the shoot down of two A-50Us in January and February, and a Ukrainian drone attack in March 2024, that damaged a workshop in the Beriev repair facility in the Russian city of Taganrog that the A-50U was seen again. A-50s and other aircraft were stored for repair and maintenance.
One of the six remaining aircraft was spotted “on station” adjacent to Ukraine’s Sumy region but more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the front line, beyond the currently acknowledged range of Ukrainian surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Military commentators put this down to Moscow’s acknowledgment of the vulnerability of the giant aircraft – which the use of the Su-35S seems to reinforce.
Earlier this year, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) reported that it had delivered a new batch of Su-35S fighter aircraft to the VKS). The fighter is said to be equipped with the N035 “Irbis” AFAR (active phased antenna array) radar. The aircraft can detect as many as 30 separate targets at ranges of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles) transmitting received data to decision-making centers in real-time. Its powerful AL-41F-1S engines, allow it to cruise at supersonic speed and to operate over extended time periods.
Rosoboronexport, the state agency that controls weapons exports, spoke about these capabilities in July 2022, where it not only promoted the aircraft’s operating capabilities but also underlined its ability to work in groups of aircraft and to guide others while operating outside of hostile air defense envelopes. Unlike the A-50U the Flankers are armed and could “in extremis” intercept targets that they themselves have detected.
The A-50U’s Shmel-M radar and other systems, allow it to detect a wider range of threats including glide bombs – such as the GBU-39/B, ATACMS, and Storm Shadow cruise missiles, at ranges of up to 600 kilometers (375 miles). It is key in directing long-range missile strikes and Russian air defense systems.
The March reappearance of the A-50U was assessed by military analysts as Russia responding to Ukraine’s growing air defense capabilities. Along with the arrival of F-16AM and Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft, detection of the A-50s has been enhanced using ground-based systems such as the Kolchuga-M and 80K6K1 Pelican.
The Western-supplied aircraft are mounted with sensors capable of detecting the A-50s while, through NATO’s Link-16 system, directing an attack response. This capability is shortly to be enhanced by the arrival of Sweden’s SAAB 340 AEW&C aircraft. This will make the A-50Us and Flankers even more vulnerable, but the Su35S will stand a better chance of avoiding any hostile response once detected.
If Moscow is to retain any of the air superiority it has benefitted from over the last three years, it will have no choice but to use its aerial warning assets but is trying to minimize the risk in losing them.