Latest news with #A-50s
France 24
10-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Operation Spider's Web: Did Ukraine destroy two Russian A-50 surveillance planes?
People are still debating the extent of the damages caused by the surprise Ukrainian drone attack on four Russian air bases on June 1. Kyiv said that the attack, dubbed Operation Spider's Web, resulted in the destruction of 41 Russian aircraft. US officials told Reuters that they estimated that around 20 planes had been hit. On social media, people have debated not just the number of planes destroyed, but also the type. Aside from a number of nuclear-capable bombers, some have claimed that the Ukrainian strikes also hit other high-value targets, namely two Beriev A-50 planes that were at Ivanovo airbase, located 250 kilometres from Moscow. These A-50s, the Russian equivalent of the American AWAC surveillance planes, are used for detecting aerial targets and for command. With its radar dome, the A-50 can surveil and co-ordinate the movements of both friendly and enemy aircraft, as well as missiles. Their limited number makes these aircraft even more precious to the Russian army. Currently, there are only seven operational A-50s in the Russian Air Force, according to specialist site Supporters of the Kremlin on social media have tried to deny the reports of the destruction of these precious aircraft. Lord Bebo, a Russian influencer who regularly shares disinformation from the Kremlin, took to X on June 3 to say that the news was a 'lie' and that these aircraft weren't damaged. To support his statements, the influencer shared a satellite image showing two intact planes. However, the image shared by Lord Bebo is misleading. It was taken at Ivanovo air base, and it does show A-50 planes. However, it has nothing to do with the raid on June 1. We ran this image through a reverse image search (check out our handy guide here) and we discovered that this image was originally published on the American website Business Insider. The photo was taken by the satellite image company Maxar on May 3, 2025, nearly a month before the Ukrainian attack. On June 4, the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, published a video from a camera that was mounted on one of the drones that attacked on June 1. The video proves that A-50s were indeed hit by Ukraine. At 1'31, you can see two drones hit the radar domes of the planes. Out-of-service aircraft However, even if these attacks on the A-50 planes were confirmed, they were possibly not as serious as you might think. If you look closely at the aircraft in the video, then you can see that they seem to be missing some or all of their D-30KP reactors – which means they would not be able to fly. According to Benjamin Gravisse, a specialist in the Russian armed forces and the person behind the Red Samovar account on X, Ivanovo received about twenty A-50 planes in 1998 that were supposed to essentially serve as 'organ donors", meaning that they would be used for parts for other planes. The planes hit by the drones have a red star on them, which indicates that they are a vestige of the Soviet era and have likely not flown for the past "10 to 15 years", according to the expert on X. Moreover, as the video released by the SBU cuts off at the moment of drone impact, it isn't possible to know if the planes were destroyed by the strikes or if they were just damaged.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why The Planes Russia Lost In Ukraine's Drone Strike Are Such A Big Deal
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) carried out a massive drone strike against Russia's military on June 1, specifically targeting the invading power's so-called strategic aircraft. These are amongst the most precious assets Russia has, and their loss represents a significant blow not just to the country's pride, but it's actual combat strength. That these attack were conducted so far inside of Russian territory doesn't merely add insult to injury, it massively expands the scope of its vulnerability. Codenamed Spiderweb, the Ukrainian operation involved smuggling 150 first-person view (FPV) drones into Russia, which were then hidden within the roofs of wooden cabins. The cabins were then hauled off by cargo trucks by hired Russian drivers who had no idea they'd become accomplices in a strike against their own country. Once those trucks were parked near the target airbases [Kyiv Post], the roofs were remotely opened, allowing the drones to leap out and kamikaze themselves into the parked planes. Reports indicate that a total of 117 drones assaulted four airbases across the breadth of Russia, damaging or destroying 41 aircraft. While this operation doesn't necessarily change the immediate situation on the ground of the war, it will leave a lasting impact on Russia and, very possibly, the future of warfare. It's a pretty big deal. Read more: These Are The Cheap Cars That Consumer Reports Actually Recommends Buying There are a lot of claims flying around about what planes exactly got hit, not all of which have been verified. Thus far, it seems like the losses definitely include Tupolev Tu-95s (pictured), Tupolev Tu22Ms, and Beriev A-50s. Tu-95s (called "Bears" by NATO) are relics from the 1950s; they don't even use jets, just old-school propellers. Roughly comparable to an American B-52, it is a slow but sturdy heavy bomber. The Tu-22M (called "Backfires") is also a heavy bomber, but has the distinction of being supersonic, capable of flying over Mach 3. They are both capable of firing cruise missiles, and in fact have done so throughout the Russo-Ukrainian War. Critically, they are also nuclear-capable, making them a central part of Russia's claim to superpower status. A-50s (called "Mainstays"), meanwhile, are airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) planes, analogous to the American E-3 AWACS. These are basically flying radar stations, able to detect enemy planes at vast distances and then coordinate friendly aircraft in the ensuing battle. Without them, fighters and bombers have to rely on their own (puny) on-board radar systems. If Russia ever wants to win an air battle, it needs its A-50s. There's a saying that fighter pilots make movies, but bomber pilots make history. Strategic bombers are the planes that can deliver huge payloads into a wide area, causing immense devastation. They're how you take out, say, an entire enemy military base. They are also one leg of the so-called nuclear triad, the name of the three ways one country can nuke another: By intercontinental ballistic missile (the big ones in the silos), by submarine, or, in this case, by strat bomber. To be a major global military power, you have to have a vast fleet of strat bombers. Without them, while you still might be able to conduct smaller strikes against smaller targets, you won't be able to seriously threaten hardened installations from the air, and your nuclear strike capability is curtailed. Operation Spiderweb, therefore, hasn't simply been "another" Ukrainian attack; it has struck a direct blow to Russia's ability to project military force at significant scale. That's bad enough for Russia on its own merits. But it's actually worse than it seems. So Russia has lost some important bombers. Surely, it will just replace them, right? Well, the country has just one small problem: It can't. The Tu-95 and Tu-22M are not even in production anymore, given that they are both Cold War relics. Russia's modern(ish) strat bomber is the supersonic Tu-160 (called "Blackjack", pictured), somewhat similar to America's B-1B Lancer. The catch is that Russia hasn't actually built a Tu-160 in years, and it won't be cheap or easy to get production back up and running again. That means the planes that Ukraine destroyed weren't just blows, but permanent blows. The little country has materially weakened the bigger one, not just for this war, but for the foreseeable future. By how much? According to Ukraine, Operation Spiderweb took out a whopping 34% of Russia's entire bomber fleet. One-third. Of its entire bomber fleet. That can't be replaced. To be fair, it's not yet clear how many of these planes were merely damaged, not destroyed. Some of them will likely be repaired. Then again, there are also unconfirmed reports that Spiderweb also hit some of the precious Tu-160s. If those are also getting taken out, Russia's biggest, most expensive, most devastating planes are getting bombed back into the stone age... by cheap drones. A Tu-160 heavy bomber costs about $500 million. A first-person view (FPV) drone, like the ones Ukraine used in Spiderweb, costs somewhere around $500. FPV drones are designed to be remote piloted using VR goggles so that you can see exactly what the drone sees, unlike more conventional camera drones that you might watch through your phone. This gives the operator a much more detailed view of where the drone is flying, making them a good choice for racing, exploring or, well, blowing up the nuclear strike capability of a major world power. Once smuggled into Russia in wooden cabins hauled by unsuspecting Russian truck drivers, the drones were controlled remotely by Ukraine's operatives via Russia's own 4G and LTE cell phone services. Good thing those airbases had excellent reception (or bad thing, if you're Russian). As kamikaze drones strapped with explosives, all the operators had to do was fly them straight at the strat bombers' most vulnerable points, and then, boom. For what it's worth, immediately after the attack, Russia claimed that it had captured these operators. Ukrainian officials found that interesting, as they replied by saying all the operators were already safely back in their home country. Operation Spiderweb may well be looked back on as a turning point in the development of warfare. The fact that a global world power's nuclear bombers, some of the most important and expensive assets it has, can be successfully destroyed by a couple of cheap drones signals a sea-change in the balance of combat power. Generally speaking, warplanes were considered broadly safe once parked back at their airbase; that's clearly no longer the case. Countries may have to start investing in hardened aircraft shelters, which will be hugely expensive at scale; simply slapping car tires on the bombers clearly isn't enough. In other words, military aircraft are now getting even more expensive to field, while cheap drones are only getting more capable. Meanwhile, on June 4, just three days after Operation Spiderweb, Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) conducted a successful cyberattack against the United Aircraft Company, the manufacturer of the Tu-160 bomber and many other Russian planes. HUR made off with 4.4 gigabytes of classified information, leaving only one thing behind: a graphic image of a Russian plane being snatched by a (presumably Ukrainian) owl. First, strike the bombers; then, strike the bomber manufacturer. All with non-conventional weaponry. Traditional views of military hardpower are being upended by the creativity and heroism of Ukraine's defenders. The future of our world may depend on how other countries, including America, adapt to these lessons. Not surprisingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to retaliate for Ukraine's daring attack. Indeed, on June 7, Russia launched a huge drone and missile strike across Ukraine, hitting the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Lutsk, and others. On June 9, it then launched its single largest drone attack of the entire war; critically, it targeted an airbase far from the border, thus mirroring Spiderweb in that way. Still, let's be clear: "Single largest drone attack of the entire war" means 479 drones, or just nine more than the previous record-holding strike on May 31, before Spiderweb even happened. In other words, Russia is throwing everything it has at Ukraine on a weekly basis anyway; at least so far, its "retaliations" have been just another day at the office. Putin's war has been so brutal that there may not be much more he can really do. In the meantime, the ground war grinds on. Peace talks between the two sides in Istanbul continue, so far without much to show for it. The question for Putin is how much of a price he's willing to pay to keep the war going, in exchange for what gains. Spiderweb changes that calculus dramatically. Whether a dictator cares remains to be seen. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
05-06-2025
- Politics
Aftermath of Ukraine drone strike on Russian airfields shown in satellite imagery
An analysis by multiple experts of new video and satellite images suggests that at least 11 Russian bomber aircraft and one large transport plane were badly damaged or destroyed in Ukraine's drone attack on Sunday. Video released on Wednesday by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) gives more details on the attack, the full extent of which has been unclear. Ukraine's government said over 40 aircraft were destroyed in an attack on at least four air bases on Monday. On Wednesday, two United States officials said around 10 planes had been destroyed and a total of around 20 were targeted in the attack. The video from the SBU released Wednesday opens with a view of the Olenya air base with multiple drones landing on Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers and an An-12 transport plane. Explosions from other drones and burning planes can be seen in some of the clips. At Olenya, according to the defense intelligence firm Janes, a company using open-source information to provide intelligence, four Tu-95 bombers and one An-12 were destroyed. Janes said they based their analysis on video and multiple satellite images. Analysts with the private intelligence firm MAIAR wrote in a report, provided to ABC News, that no significant damage was visible at the base and that imagery suggested eight A-50s remained in the same position as seen in earlier images. Two A-50 aircraft are seen at Russia's Ivanovo air base in a video posted by SBU on June 4. After the appearance of the A-50s in the video from Ukraine's SBU released Wednesday, a series of clips shows drones landing on and around large airplanes at Russia's Dyagilevo air base. Scorch marks on the ground suggested Russia's Dyagilevo air base was likely targeted in the attack, according to Janes, but there was no visible evidence of damage to aircraft there. MAIAR's analysts also pointed to ground scarring near areas where aircraft had been stored. After reviewing the SBU's video, the open-source intelligence analyst Brady Africk told ABC News the video pointed to evidence of damage to at least one Tu-22. According to Africk, a damaged Tu-22 bomber is seen at Russia's Dyagilevo air base. The video from Ukraine's SBU closes with a series of clips from the Belaya air base, where several smoke plumes and fires are seen as drones target multiple planes. There, the wreckage of three Tu-95 and four Tu-22 bombers could be seen in a June 4 image from Planet Labs, according to an analysis by Janes. MAIAR's analysts reached the same conclusion, highlighting evidence in the satellite imagery of ground scarring and burned grass in two areas of the base. Africk, the open-source intelligence analyst, told ABC News that destroyed Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers could be seen at the base.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Aftermath of Ukraine drone strike on Russian airfields shown in satellite imagery
An analysis by multiple experts of new video and satellite images suggests that at least 11 Russian bomber aircraft and one large transport plane were badly damaged or destroyed in Ukraine's drone attack on Sunday. Video released on Wednesday by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) gives more details on the attack, the full extent of which has been unclear. Ukraine's government said over 40 aircraft were destroyed in an attack on at least four air bases on Monday. On Wednesday, two United States officials said around 10 planes had been destroyed and a total of around 20 were targeted in the attack. MORE: Ukraine claims new underwater bomb attack on Russia's Crimean Bridge The video from the SBU released Wednesday opens with a view of the Olenya air base with multiple drones landing on Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers and an An-12 transport plane. Explosions from other drones and burning planes can be seen in some of the clips. At Olenya, according to the defense intelligence firm Janes, a company using open-source information to provide intelligence, four Tu-95 bombers and one An-12 were destroyed. Janes said they based their analysis on video and multiple satellite images. Analysts with the private intelligence firm MAIAR wrote in a report, provided to ABC News, that no significant damage was visible at the base and that imagery suggested eight A-50s remained in the same position as seen in earlier images. Two A-50 aircraft are seen at Russia's Ivanovo air base in a video posted by SBU on June 4. After the appearance of the A-50s in the video from Ukraine's SBU released Wednesday, a series of clips shows drones landing on and around large airplanes at Russia's Dyagilevo air base. Scorch marks on the ground suggested Russia's Dyagilevo air base was likely targeted in the attack, according to Janes, but there was no visible evidence of damage to aircraft there. MAIAR's analysts also pointed to ground scarring near areas where aircraft had been stored. After reviewing the SBU's video, the open-source intelligence analyst Brady Africk told ABC News the video pointed to evidence of damage to at least one Tu-22. MORE: Following peace talks, Zelenskyy says Ukraine will continue attacks unless Russia halts offensive According to Africk, a damaged Tu-22 bomber is seen at Russia's Dyagilevo air base. The video from Ukraine's SBU closes with a series of clips from the Belaya air base, where several smoke plumes and fires are seen as drones target multiple planes. There, the wreckage of three Tu-95 and four Tu-22 bombers could be seen in a June 4 image from Planet Labs, according to an analysis by Janes. MAIAR's analysts reached the same conclusion, highlighting evidence in the satellite imagery of ground scarring and burned grass in two areas of the base. Africk, the open-source intelligence analyst, told ABC News that destroyed Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers could be seen at the base. Both types of bombers have been used in long-range strikes on Ukraine, Africk told ABC News.
Hindustan Times
05-06-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
The Ukrainian Spy Agency Behind the Stunning Strike on Russia's Bomber Fleet
KYIV, Ukraine—With its devastating drone assault on Russia's strategic bomber fleet, Ukraine's SBU security service pulled off the kind of spectacular operation that has long fed the mystique of top spy agencies like Israel's Mossad. The SBU has transformed during the three-year war into the sharp tip of Ukraine's spear after decades of being maligned as corrupt, shot through with traitors and more focused on chasing political opponents than security threats. Under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Vasyl Maliuk, the agency has taken the fight to Russia with the killings of alleged traitors and Russian military officers as well as with the use of long-range explosive drones that have targeted Russian military-production plants and oil facilities. It has also revolutionized naval warfare by deploying naval drones that forced the Russian Black Sea Fleet to largely abandon its home port in occupied Crimea. Maliuk, a burly 42-year-old who worked his way up through the ranks of the SBU, has built a reputation as a hands-on leader with a tough streak. In February, Maliuk personally detained a senior officer of the agency who was allegedly spying for Russia. The SBU's drone attack on Sunday, dubbed Operation Spiderweb, was 18 months in the planning and damaged 41 Russian warplanes at four airfields deep inside Russia, according to the SBU. The agency released fresh drone footage on Wednesday, which showed dozens of drones targeting planes across four Russian airports. Drones landed on two A-50 planes, which provide early warning of potential threats as well as command and control of the battlefield. It isn't clear whether there was an explosion from each drone, as the detonation of the drones also cuts the video feed. The A-50s didn't have engines on them, calling into question whether the planes were operational, according to Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. One of the planes was no longer present in satellite imagery of the air base on Monday. The new video proves that the strike caused more damage than previously revealed through satellite images and videos posted online. It shows that dozens of warplanes were attacked, though it doesn't confirm damage to all of the 41 the SBU says were hit in the operation. 'Operation Spiderweb will go down as one of the most effective intelligence-driven special-operations missions in history,' said Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense. 'The clandestine development of a platform to conduct this, the operational security being able to be maintained to protect it and the skill and expertise necessary to execute were exceptional.' President Trump said Wednesday that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin for over an hour, including about the Ukrainian assault. 'President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,' Trump wrote on social media. SBU operatives smuggled Ukrainian drone parts into Russia and assembled them at a secret location before dispatching them toward air bases concealed in wooden containers on the back of trucks. A Ukrainian law-enforcement official said Kyiv tracked Russian plane movements ahead of the operation to increase the chance of success when they were dispersed across several airports. Satellite imagery shows the movement of Tupolev Tu-95 bombers, Soviet-era aircraft vital to Russia's long-range missile campaigns, in the days ahead of the attack. The operation took advantage of a moment when the targeted planes were evenly distributed across Russian air bases to 'maximize the effectiveness of their drones,' said Lair, who first identified the plane movements. On Sunday, as the trucks were close to four Russian airfields, the roofs were opened remotely and 117 drones flew out and zipped toward their targets. An SBU official said the drones were guided manually by pilots but, in a sign of how the agency is at the forefront of technological advances, artificial intelligence took over when some of the craft lost their signal, automatically piloting the drones to strike their targets along preplanned routes. Ukrainian officials quickly lavished praise on the SBU for the operation, stressing that it was planned and executed by Ukrainians using homegrown equipment. 'We are grateful to our partners, but this operation was conducted by the Ukrainian side alone,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Monday. In the days after the Russian invasion in February 2022, the SBU was in disarray. Several senior officers had allegedly betrayed their service by assisting the Russians. They were later detained. The SBU emerged from its Soviet predecessor, the KGB, after Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The KGB and its forerunners had relentlessly targeted Ukrainians who promoted independence. As Ukraine took an authoritarian turn in the late 1990s, the SBU pursued pro-democracy activists and political opponents and shook down businesses. After Russia invaded and seized Crimea and covertly sent paramilitaries into eastern Ukraine in 2014, dozens of SBU officers switched sides to Russia. After that invasion, Moscow continued to recruit moles inside the agency. In July 2022, Zelensky removed the then-chairman of the SBU, his childhood friend Ivan Bakanov, and replaced him with Maliuk, who had led operations to root out Russian agents. Under Maliuk's leadership, the SBU quickly became a feared and creative agency that targeted Russian military installations, equipment and military and pro-war figures in a series of brazen attacks. Maliuk is respected in the agency, in part because he wasn't a professional politician parachuted in by the country's president, as were several previous leaders. Before running the agency, he worked for years in regional SBU offices and fought against Russia after the 2014 invasion. 'He knows every fighter by name, he's always open for honest conversation,' said one SBU officer, who said Maliuk frequently travels to the front lines of the war. He has embraced new technology, particularly drones, and is adept at spotting Russian weak points and striking there with spectacular results, officers said. In an October 2022 attack planned and executed by the SBU, a truck loaded with explosives detonated on the Kerch Bridge linking mainland Russia to Crimea. The explosion ignited tanker wagons in a passing cargo train and damaged the bridge, a project feted by Putin and critical to his military's logistics. Explosive naval drones developed by a special unit of the SBU have struck at least 11 Russian ships, according to the agency's numbers, forcing Russia to withdraw much of its Black Sea Fleet from occupied Crimea. A naval drone was also used to strike the Kerch Bridge again in 2023, severely damaging a support pillar. The officer in charge of the SBU's sea drone program said Maliuk's trust and support during its infancy were critical to its success. Outmatched in labor and equipment by its giant invader, Ukraine has relied on the SBU to find ways to strike deep inside Russia using long-range drones and covert operations. The SBU has steadily increased the range of its explosive drones, which now regularly target Russian military and industrial facilities inside Russia. The security service has pulled off daring assassinations on Russian territory. It used an exploding scooter to kill a Russian general in Moscow and a bomb hidden inside a statuette to take out a Russian war blogger in St. Petersburg. The agency has also been active in Ukraine hunting down spies and saboteurs. As a result of the successes, the SBU's reputation has soared among the Ukrainian public. Trust in the agency stood at 73% last September, according to a survey by Kyiv-based pollster Rating, compared with 23% in 2021. Ukraine's postal service has released a special stamp to celebrate the SBU's operations. Write to James Marson at and Brenna T. Smith at Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
