The aggressor country of the Russian Federation has lost two A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft over the past month.< br>
This information was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense, reports URA-Inform.
A week after the loss of the second A-50, the Russians may have stopped using them in operations against Ukraine, according to British intelligence. This, according to the British, will continue as long as the Russian Federation conducts internal investigations into the failure to protect these aircraft, as well as how to reduce the threat posed by Ukrainian air defense.
«The loss of this capability that provides day-to-day command and control of Russian air operations would very likely significantly degrade the situational awareness of aircraft crews. This is a capability gap that Russia cannot afford over the disputed airspace of eastern and southern Ukraine», — the intelligence brief says.
The British MoD also suggested that Russia will have to look for options to bridge this gap by repurposing aircraft and taking more risks to provide the effective air support that ground forces need aggressor country.
«This is a long-term problem that almost certainly worsened after the withdrawal of the A-50s that supported operations»,&# 8212; intelligence writes.
Most likely, Russia will try to return the previously mothballed A-50s to service in order to mitigate the above-mentioned problem. Let us recall that it was previously reported that the Russian Federation is testing the Yars nuclear missile: the Pentagon responded.
