Russian A-100 AWACS Aircraft Completes Maiden Flight, Deliveries to Start in 2020

Russian Beriev A-100 airborne early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft based on the Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft has completed its maiden flight.

The Russian ministry of defense posted pictures of the maiden flight on its official micro-blogging twitter handle Monday.

On November 18, 2017, the multifunctional aviation complex of radar patrol and targeting A-100 made a debut flight," the ministerial press service said in a statement.

 The deliveries of the new aircraft are scheduled from 2020, Tass reported Saturday.

The aircraft will replace Beriev A-50 in the Russian Air Force. The aircraft is equipped with new PS-90A-76 turbofan engines that are 15% more powerful than the D-30KP used by the Il-76.

The external shape of the A-100 will be similar to the A-50, with the main radar array housed in a rotating dome mounted on two struts above the fuselage. The new Vega Premier AESA radar in the dome will have electronic steering in elevation while azimuth is controlled by the rotation of the dome. The array will rotate once every 5 seconds, thus improving the radar's ability to track fast moving targets.

The aviation complex of the new generation A-100 is being created by the TANTK. G.M. Beriev (part of the UAC) within the framework of the State Arms Program in conjunction with the Radio Engineering Concern Vega.