On the air of the national telethon, Ukraine’s Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat noted that as of the morning of Sunday, July 30, 2023, an increase in the activity of enemy aircraft of all types has been recorded. In particular, the activity of russian UAVs has been observed in the sky on the border with Sumy region, as well as a total of 30 aircraft of all types, including drones, tactical aircraft and Il-22 airborne command post aircraft, were recorded in the Sea of Azov region.
In this message, it is worth paying special attention to the fact that the russians use even their 50-year-old IL-22 type aircraft to conduct combat actions against Ukraine, as well as to the fact that these "airborne command post" are mentioned in the plural.
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The paradox is not even that Il-22 type aircraft were manufactured almost half a century ago, but that a completely different type of aircraft was initially assigned to control the operations of combat aviation as part of the so-called "russian Aerospace Forces" - the A-50, A-50U types airborne early warning and control aircraft. In this way, the russians "monkeyed" NATO's doctrine of the use of aviation, which provides for the mandatory use of AWACS-type aircraft.
The Russians used their A-50 aircraft to control air operations and control airspace even during the war against Chechnya in the 1990s and during hostilities in Syria, where the russian federation had no adversaries with aviation at all.
So now it could be seen that the russians have decided to somewhat "change" the doctrine of the use of their aviation, and have started to use "airborne command posts" of the Il-22 type for control purposes. It is likely that the russians could go for it, given the fact that they have more Il-22 aircraft than A-50 aircraft.
According to the Military Balance 2023, the Russian Air Force has 5 Il-22 and 12 Il-22M aircraft in service, as well as 3 A-50 aircraft and 7 A-50U aircraft (it is likely that these figures do not yet take into account already known losses, data on which are available in open sources).
In addition, when choosing an aircraft, the factor that the Il-22's on-board equipment could be more reliable and provide fewer breakdowns and malfunctions, and, accordingly, a higher level of situational awareness for tactical aviation aircraft, could play its role too.
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