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Yevgeny Yerokhin
India got its third A-50EI
The first trilateral contract on three
Beriev A-50EI airborne early warning
and control (AEW&C) aircraft for
the Indian Defence Ministry was
fulfilled with success this spring. In
March, the third aircraft of the type,
serialled KW3553, flew to IAF’s air
base in Agra, having been fitted with
the radar system and subjected to
relevant trials in Israel.
As is known, the Beriev A-50EI
AEW&C system was developed
under the Russo-Indo-Israeli contract
signed in 2004 as a derivative of
the Ilyushin Il-76TD airlifter made
by TAPC (Uzbekistan), powered
by Beriev-installed Aviadvigatel/
Perm Engine Company PS-90A-76
engines and equipped with Israeli
radar system MSA Phalcon that was
installed by its manufacturer ELTA.
In addition, a datalink from Russian
corporation Vega is mounted on the
aircraft.
The first plane built under the
contract on the basis of the airframe
of Il-76TD c/n 94-02 first flew in
Taganrog on 29 November 2007
and entered service with IAF two
years ago, in May 2009, serialled
KW3551. The second unit, based
on the airframe of Il-76TD c/n 94-03
and serialled KW3552, conducted its
maiden flight from Beriev’s airfield on
11 January 2009 and was delivered in
March 2010. The final, third aircraft
derived from the airframe of Il-76TD
c/n 94-04 performed its first flight
in Taganrog on 9 June last year and
was ferried to Israel on 8 October.
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With its delivery this spring, the
2004 contract has been fulfilled.
Nonetheless, the parties are
gearing up for making another
contract for three more aircraft. In
particular, Rosoboronexport Deputy
Director General Victor Komardin
mentioned this at the Bangalore air
show this February. He said the
delivery of the third A-50EI “will
be followed by another three”.
“We are waiting for the request”,
Mr. Komardin said in February.
To manufacture next three A-50EIs,
there is a plan to use TAPC’s backlog
of Il-76TD airlifters that will be
refined, completed and fitted with
PS-90A-76 engines by Beriev and
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then equipped with the radar system
and tested in Israel as it was done
under the first contract. However,
a final configuration of the deal will
hinge on TAPC’s preparedness and
the Uzbek government’s decision to
take part in fulfilling a new export
contract.
As is known, to avoid dependence
on Uzbek suppliers, the Aviastar
plant in Ulyanovsk launched the
productionising of an upgraded Il-76
version (Project 476) in line with
the Russian governmental directive
dated 20 December 2006. The first
Russian-built flying protoype of the
Il-76-TD-90A (c/n 01-02) is to be
completed before the end of this
year. Aircraft like that are supposed
to be made not only in the military
airlifter and commercial freighter
versions, but also as a platform for
deriving a tanker plane, an AEW&C
aircraft and other applications.
For instance, at the late-April
International Air Transport Forum
in Ulyanovsk, a model of such a
promising AEW&C aircraft based
on the Project 476 airframe was
unveiled to the participants in the
forum and the public. The aircraft
featured an advanced wing design,
PS-90A-76 engines and other design
peculiarities of the future Aviastarbuilt
Il-76s. The aircraft has all of the
properties of the A-50 AEW&C plane
and its subsequent versions and
upgrades – the radar with the antenna
in the disc-shaped radome on top of
the fuselage, other extra antennae
and equipment cooling air intakes
in various sections of the airframe,
fuselage nose section devoid of the
navigator’s station characteristic of
the transport versions of the Il-76,
in-flight refuelling system, etc.
Obviously, the unveiled model has
the purely presentational purpose
to demonstrate the prospect of
Programme 476. However, it makes
sense to assume that it is such
a platform that this country will
use further down the road to make
advanced AEW&C aircraft both for
its own military and for export.
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Yochai Mossi