Russia Ready to Roll Out Its Brand New A-100LL 'Flying Laboratory'

The A-100LL ‘flying laboratory’ is ready to take to the skies, the United Instrument Corporation’s chief designer Vladimir Verba told RIA Novosti.

The Beriyev A-100LL is built around the A-50 early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft and is designed to stress-test all of the plane’s elements and the electromagnetic compatibility of Russia’s next-generation A-100 airborne early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft.

Vladimir Verba said that the new design was being developed as part of the Premier-476 system that will accommodate the avionics and radar systems, including its distinctive rotating radar dome above the fuselage, and replace the A-50 and A-50U AWACS aircraft currently in service.

“The Premier-476 ‘flying lab’ enables us to test its elements and their compatibility thus ensuring quality implementation of our mission and save time and money during the flight tests of the A-100, which is based on the Il-76MD-90A platform,” Verba added.

Work on the creation of a new generation of the AWACS system in Russia uses fundamental studies in the field of radiolocation and information technologies.

“This will enable us to look ahead and create future technologies for our defense and economic sectors,” Vladimir Verba said.

The A-100 AWACS plane is built around a multilateration radar unit featuring a pair of phased-array antennas capable of detecting enemy fighter planes at a distance of up to 600 kilometers and surface ships up to 400 kilometers away.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said that the A-100, designed to keep an eye on aerial and ground targets, was able to detect new types of targets and direct attack aircraft to destroy them.

The A-100’s maiden flight to stress-test all its systems in the air is slated for March of next year.If everything goes well, the “flying radar” will become operational in 2018.