russian leadership has allegedly decided to halt development of the A-100 Premier AEW&C system, which was intended to replace the A-50 and A-50U aircraft in the russian Aerospace Forces. The original source of this statement was the russian propagandist with nickname Fighterbomber, who cited "unverified sources."
The reported reason for halting the A-100 Premier program is the vulnerability of this type of aircraft. Against this backdrop, questions arise about russia's plans to resume production of the A-50, announced in spring 2024.
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From Defense Express, it should be noted that if the russian leadership has truly abandoned further development of the A-100 Premier, it may be for a simpler reason. The deadline for troop deliveries was postponed five times, each time due to "unresolved technical problems."
russians have repeatedly claimed that the Premier radar on the A-100 Premier aircraft can allegedly track up to 300 targets simultaneously, detect ground objects at distances up to 500 kilometers, and air targets up to 1,000 kilometers away. However, these capabilities existed only on paper, as russian military sources admitted that post-2014 sanctions on the Western defense industry severely complicated the A-100 Premier project.
russians created problems for themselves with this undetaking back in 2006, when they designed a new radar based on Western components that later proved to be unavailable. Therefore, technological issues can be seen as the main factor that may have led the russian leadership to halt the program.
As for the possible resumption of A-50 production at russian defense industry facilities, the situation is as follows. During the Soviet era, the average production rate was three new aircraft per year, whereas in modern russia, it has taken one to two years to modernize just a single aircraft. Thus, russian plans to restart A-50 production appear unpromising.
It should be noted that russians have at least six A-50s in storage with dismantled engines. This was indicated by one of the satellite images. It can be concluded that russia may bring these six aircraft back into service under the guise of newly produced A-50s.
All in all, it appears that russia may indeed abandon the A-100 Premier program for technological reasons. Instead, russians may begin restoring A-50s from storage, presenting them as newly manufactured aircraft.
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