OSINT analyst MT Anderson published satellite images on February 29 that show the poor condition of the A-50 aircraft. According to MT Anderson, on February 24 there were two A-50s at the airfield of the russian Aerospace Forces' air base in Akhtubinsk, Astrakhan Oblast of the russian federation.
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The OSINT analyst notes that there are probably four russian fifth-generation Su-57 fighters (NATO classification: Felon) at the Akhtubinsk airbase.
Also, according to MT Anderson, four Il-76 military transport aircraft are based there, which are not shown on the satellite images.
The images of the airbase in Ivanovo show four A-50 aircraft on the airfield with engines as well as one such aircraft outside the field, also with engines. Another seven A-50s at this airfield are inoperable, without engines. This means that half (seven out of 14) of russian A-50 aircraft at these two airfields are unable to work.
Probably these are not all of available A-50s.
According to the Crimean Wind Telegram channel, as of the morning of March 1, one A-50 aircraft was at the airfield in Adler, as well as another in Taganrog, russia. It means that some of them could have been possibly relocated from Akhtubinsk from February 24 till 28.
In addition, the location of A-50 aircraft in Taganrog was shown on February 29 by the Schemes project of Radio Liberty using Planet Labs images.
"An aircraft of this type was also spotted on the territory of the airfield in September 2023 and on February 15, 2024. At the same time, it was not in the picture on February 28 at the airfield, which may indicate that this plane was used," the Schemes noted.
At the same time, after the Defenders of Ukraine had destroyed two A-50 aircraft over the past two months, the head of russian state corporation Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, said that russia plans to resume production of these aircraft. He explained this by saying that the russian armed forces need A-50 aircraft as well as these planes are allegedly very well exported.
Earlier Defense Express reported that entire crew of russia’s A-50 aircraft shot down by the Defense Forces of Ukraine had died.
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