Rumors about the closure of the development program for the A-100 "Premier" airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft have not yet received official confirmation. However, there are objective reasons why the work has been so delayed, according to aviation expert Alexey Zakharov.
According to him, one should not trust rumors that the reason for abandoning further development was problems with components.
Frankly, this is hard to believe. The prototype machine with an almost complete set of target equipment flew and was tested. Even if it uses some extremely complex components. Considering that AEW aircraft are built in relatively small series, buying the necessary components is a matter of price.
Zakharov noted that the impossibility of mass production is not a reason to stop testing. Some of the equipment developed for the A-100 can certainly be used to modernize existing aircraft of the A-50 family.
In his opinion, problems are more likely to be with the developer of the airborne radar complex (RTC) - the Vega concern.
Let's just say that this organization was not distinguished by its efficiency even in Soviet times. Now it has weakened altogether. This is confirmed by the slow pace of modernization of the A-50 to the A-50U ("improved") version - the Russian Aerospace Forces receive one machine every two years. The reason for this, as far as is known, is precisely the refinement of the RTC, in which significant changes have been made compared to the original A-50 complex.
At the same time, it is not clear at the moment what exactly the "modern" A-50M will be. Perhaps we are talking about installing the RTC of the A-50U aircraft in new airframes that are currently being produced in Ulyanovsk. It is possible that the design will be modified based on the results of A-100 testing.
True, a modernized machine that is almost half a century old is unlikely to be a full-fledged replacement for the new AEW. It's a pity that it turned out that way…
Earlier www1.ru reported that the world's largest Mi-26T helicopter was deconserved after 12 years of storage.
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