Soviet and Russian Special Mission Aircraft

In the years after World War II, aircraft optimized for various kinds of special missions began assuming ever-greater importance in the inventories of the world's leading air forces. The Soviet Union was no exception - numerous special mission versions of Soviet military fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters were developed and fielded, and the process is continuing in modern Russia. Some of them have seen action in various armed conflicts, including the Afghan War, the Chechen Wars and, most recently, the Syrian War. The need to control friendly forces on the move and manage airborne air defense assets efficiently resulted in the development of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C ) aircraft. The first of these in the Soviet inventory was the early 1960s vintage Tupolev Tu- 126 which was replaced in the 1980s by the Ilyushin/Beriyev A-50. The latter has been constantly upgraded but is now due for replacement by the latest A-100. An equally important role is filled by airborne command posts - mostly based on airliners, including the Ilyushin Il-22 army-level ABC P, the Tu-214PU and the Il-80 national emergency airborne command post (the Russian equivalent of the Boeing E-4 'doomsday aircraft'). The latter may be replaced by a specialised derivative of the Il-96-400 airliner. Rotary-wing aircraft in this class were also developed, such as the Mil' Mi-8VzPU and Mi- 6VKP/Mi-22. Another important class is reconnaissance aircraft of various categories--photo reconnaissance, electronic intelligence, nuclear/biological/chemical reconnaissance, radiation intelligence (RINT). These were represented by ELINT versions of bombers (including the Tu-22 and Tu-22M), airliners and transports (ELINT versions of the Antonov An-12 and An-26 transports, the Il-20 derivative of the…