operations over Syria, flying from Russia, to support Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War. In December 2018, it was deployed to Crimea. On 26 February 2023, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Russian A-50 was reportedly damaged by explosions while stationary at the Machulishchy air base near Minsk, Belarus. Belarusian partisans have claimed to have attacked the plane using drone-dropped munitions. Russia is believed to have nine operational A-50s. The attacked base also hosts MiG-31 fighters used to attack Ukraine. However, satellite imagery of the Machulishchy air base from 28 February showed no significant damage to the sole A-50 located there. Variants A-50M – Updated variant of the A-50 fitted with mid-air refueling capability. A-50U – Updated variant of the A-50M with modern electronics and increased crew comfort. Izdeliye-676 – One-off stop-gap telemetry and tracking aircraft. Izdeliye-776 – One-off stop-gap telemetry and tracking aircraft. Izdeliye-976 (SKIP) – (Airborne Check-Measure-and-Control Center) – Il-76-based Range Control and Missile tracking platform. Initially built to support Raduga Kh-55 cruise missile tests. Izdeliye-1076 – One-off special mission aircraft with unknown duties. A-50EI – An export version for the Indian Air Force with Aviadvigatel PS-90A-76 engines and Israeli EL/W-2090 radar. Operators Indian Air Force (2 on order) No. 50 Squadron IAF Russian Air Force 2457th Aviation Base 144th Airborne Early Warning Aviation Regiment Former operators Soviet Air Forces Soviet Anti-Air Defence Specifications (A-50) See also Related development: Ilyushin Il-76 KJ-2000 Beriev A-100 Comparable aircraft: E-3 Sentry GlobalEye G550-EL/W-2085 References Further reading Yefim Gordon, Dmitriy Kommisarov: Flight Craft 6: Il'yushin/Beriyev A-50. Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2015, Yefim Gordon, Dmitriy Komissarov, Sergey Komissarov: OBB Ilyushin: A History of the Design Bureau and Its Aircraft External links vectorsite.net Beriev A-50 Spyflight.co.uk – Beriev A-50 Mainstay Aviation.ru A-50 Red-stars.org – A-50 Mainstay Source article of NVO (in Russian) Iranian AEW (in Persian) AWACS aircraft A-50 1980s Soviet command and control aircraft Quadjets High-wing aircraft T-tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1978