The Vega Group and the Beriev Aircraft Company delivered an upgraded A-50U Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to the Russian Air Force. The aircraft has been modernized under the large-scale renewal program of the long-range air surveillance aircraft fleet as stipulated by the defense procurement plan. The aircraft can detect fundamentally new types of aircraft and simultaneously it can track a greater number of targets and guide a larger number of fighters towards the targets than the previous modification.
The modernized A-50U has received new, better performing, and faster electronics, which has boosted its software functional capabilities. The aircraft is also furnished with a navigation instrumentation system. Lighter modern equipment has increased the plane’s operational range and the time of accomplishing combat tasks at a designated frontier. Work on upgrading the A-50 air surveillance aircraft to the A-50U’s level continues. Vega Group is continuing work on upgrading the operational A-50 aircraft to the A-50U level.
The A-50U upgrade forms the basis of the concept for Beriev A-100 AEW&C. Its configuration will be similar, but with a new Vega Premier active electronically scanned array radar. The radar “Vega-M” is designed by MNIIP, Moscow, and produced by NPO Vega. The “Vega-M” can track up to 150 targets simultaneously within 230 kilometers (140 mi). Large targets, like surface ships, can be tracked at a distance of 400 kilometers (250 mi). This is already the seventh airborne platform delivered to the troops. The company is planning to deliver the next plane in 2023.
The Vega Group is a part of the Ruselectronics Holding within the state tech corporation Rostec. Vega Group enterprises continue manufacturing an advanced variant of the A-50U AEW&C aircraft and develop prospective A-100 AEW&C aircraft. The Ruselectronics holding is a national electronics vendor and unites the largest concerns of the country’s radio-electronic industry. The PJSC Beriev Aircraft Company formerly Beriev Design Bureau, is a Russian aircraft manufacturer (design office prefix Be), specializing in amphibious aircraft.
