Did A Patriot Missile Down Russia's Hyper-Advanced Surveillance Plane?

A Russian Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft flies over central Moscow in May 2019. 

Kyiv claimed on January 15 that its military shot down an A-50 over the Sea of Azov. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had “no information” about Ukraine striking the aircraft. He passed Russian reporters on to the Defense Ministry, which has remained silent on the claim.

 

Radar officers inside an A-50 during a training flight.

The surveillance planes are a highly valuable target due to their cost -- up to half a billion dollars per aircraft -- and the real-time situational awareness they provide to the Russian war machine. The aircraft serves as a kind of airborne “control tower" with 360 degree radar capable of tracking and identifying aircraft or ships from hundreds of kilometers away. 
 

An A-50 flying in formation with fighter jets over Moscow in 2010. 

The surveillance jet's powerful radiation can be detected by enemy forces but due to its mobility and “over the horizon” radar range, the A-50 is vastly more difficult to target than ground-based radar systems. 
 

A Russian A-50 at a Belarusian airfield in 2005. 

The plane's radar system is housed in a nearly 10-meter wide “rotodome,” which rotates at around the speed of a slushie machine. The plane is fitted with a gold layer on its windows to protect its flight crew from the high doses of radiation being pumped out from its radar dish.   

 

The controls of an Il-76, the jet that the A-50’s radar infrastructure is built on.

A Ukrainian aviation expert has indicated that the A-50 is likely to have been downed with a U.S.-made Patriot Missile. Other analysts believe a disastrous case of friendly fire from Russian air defenses could also have been behind the plane's apparent demise. 
 

S-400 missiles during a joint exercise between Russian and Belarusian forces in Belarus seen a few days before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

During the war on Ukraine, Russia's A-50 aircraft have reportedly been used to help guide  surface missiles to airborne targets. In October 2023, the Kremlin claimed "24 Ukrainian combat aircraft" were downed in five days by S-400 missile crews using real-time targeting information sent from an A-50 aircraft. That disputed claim did not specify whether there were drones included in the claimed tally.

 

A Russian A-50 takes off from an airport in the Komi Republic in March 1995. 

Konstantin Krivolap, an aviation expert and former test engineer at Ukraine’s Antonov aircraft company, said the loss of one of Russia's most advanced and important surveillance aircraft would have a significant impact on Russia’s air defenses. Estimating that Moscow has up to nine A-50s in operation, he said “the loss of such an aircraft would be critical, because the remaining eight must control all the airspace along the Russian border, starting from the Arctic to the Baltic Sea, the area around Central Asia and especially Ukraine.” He added that, “in theory, at least two or three such aircraft are needed around Ukraine to control this airspace.  

An Il-22 air control aircraft taking off from a Moscow airfield in May 2016. 

Kyiv also claimed to have "destroyed" an Il-22 on the same night the A-50 went down. Photos later emerged showing the Il-22 had apparently survived an emergency landing with a tail heavily damaged by shrapnel.