As happened in mid-January, it appears that the Russian Air Force (VVS) lost another of its vital Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft over the Sea of Azov.
Russian and Ukrainian sources would agree that a Beriev A-50U (modernized version) was shot down at around 19hs (local time) on February 23. What there is no agreement on is who bears responsibility for the downing.
Chipi chipi chapa chapa ???????????? pic.twitter.com/SXJ8sOhcfr
— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) February 23, 2024
The Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claims that the destruction of the aircraft is the result of a joint operation between them and the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and showed maps with the alleged flight path that the A-50U followed before its demise. According to the publication, Russia has only a few more of these valuable aircraft left, which cost approximately $350 million.
???? Мінус А-50У ― ГУР та Повітряні Сили збили черговий літак рф
???? У результаті спільної операції Головного управління розвідки Міністерства оборони України та Повітряних Сил ЗСУ над Азовським морем збили черговий цінний російський літак А-50У.
???? https://t.co/XCddds5IaN pic.twitter.com/wKQxF88ZZO
— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) February 23, 2024
Instead, Russian (unofficial) sources are convinced that this was an unfortunate «friendly fire» event, as the A-50 never came within 200kms of the front line. This means that the aircraft was shot down well beyond the range of the most capable Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems, such as Patriots or S-300s, which are deployed in the Ukrainian rear.
In one of the videos uploaded to the networks by Russian residents of the Krasnodar area, you can see how the crew of the A-50U launches countermeasures to try to escape the approaching missile, but it eventually finds it and shoots it down.
Dramatic footage shows a Russian A-50 early warning and control aircraft intercepted by several air defence missiles resulting in its destruction. pic.twitter.com/yw4NsgwyW9
— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) February 23, 2024
There are some theories going around that the Ukrainian forces could have modified some S-200 Vega long-range surface-to-air missiles to increase their range even more, and fired it towards the area where the A-50 was flying, with the intention of generating chaos in the Russian air defense, which ended up mistaking its own aircraft for an enemy target. I repeat, this is only one of the theories that could explain this situation.
We will probably never know the truth about the events that cost the VVS the loss of another of its most important assets (there are already five aircraft shot down since the beginning of 2024), but the little evidence presented supports the theory that it was really «friendly fire». The presence in the area of operations of an aircraft as important as an AEW&C should not be unknown to the operators of air defense systems. They are links in the same chain that should work in an integrated and coherent manner. And ultimately, the electronic identification means should have declared the contact as a friendly aircraft.
If it is confirmed that this was a mistake made by the Russian air defense, one might wonder about the degree of integration of the different assets of the Russian air defense and about the effectiveness of its friendly/enemy identification system, because this kind of situation should not happen.
