The performance of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has always been criticized, including too few sorties, too few precision-guided munitions used, outdated methods of deploying frontline bombers, single-patterned force application lacking systematic combat thinking, etc. The status of the Russian Aerospace Forces in people's minds has been continuously declining. However, it turns out that whenever you think the Russian Aerospace Forces should hit rock bottom and rebound, they always manage to pull off something ridiculous, causing you to be deeply disappointed again, leaving you unsure where their bottom line actually lies... Well, the Russian Aerospace Forces are at it again! The other day, the famous Russian military自媒体blogger FightBomber, who is often suspected of being the official alias of the Russian Aerospace Forces, announced that after years of delays, the Russian Aerospace Forces decided to abandon their A-100 "Prime Minister" AWACS project. It is claimed that from the analysis of the situation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Russian Aerospace Forces believe that the survivability of AWACS on future battlefields will greatly decrease, with long-range and ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles/ground-to-air missiles posing significant threats to AWACS. At the same time, the airspace surveillance and combat command functions undertaken by AWACS can be fully distributed to fighter jets such as the Su-35S equipped with the N035 passive phased array radar or the Su-57 equipped with the N036 active phased array radar. From this perspective, the A-100 AWACS project can be considered a flying white elephant project, deemed unnecessary for further development. How to view the cancellation of the A-100 project Is what the Russian Aerospace Forces said really true? Is the complete abandonment of the A-100 AWACS project truly because it cannot adapt to the times? Well, Big Ivan feels that if you can't come up with anything, then just say the AWACS is outdated... What's the point of that? Let's talk about the A-100 AWACS. It all started when the Russian Air Force began developing its replacement project for the A-50 AWACS back in 2004. But somehow, the progress of the A-100 project was extremely slow, only starting trials in 2017. But note this, the A-100 that completed its first flight in November 2017 was not a fully developed version; its most critical subsystem, the radar system, was missing. It wasn't until the start of the special military operation in February 2022 that the fully developed A-100, equipped with the radar, completed its first flight. In other words, it took eighteen years from project initiation to the first flight, setting a historical record. Actually, in terms of design, the A-100 design was still quite advanced. Firstly, the aircraft platform was changed, replacing the Il-76MD platform used by the A-50U AWACS with the Il-76-PS90A platform. After replacing the turbofan engine, the aircraft's maximum range and fuel efficiency were improved, making it suitable for long-term airborne deployment. Secondly, regarding the main radar system, the A-50/A-50U AWACS used an old Bear Bee full-wave planar slot array radar, with a detection distance of only 300 kilometers for typical fighter targets and a target processing batch count of 300. This radar system's performance was too poor, completely unsuitable for modern air combat needs. The A-100 AWACS uses a new active phased array warning radar developed by Vega, which is a dual-panel radar, one panel in S-band and the other in UHF band. The former can detect fighter-sized targets at around 500 kilometers, while the latter is mainly used for detecting stealth targets. At the same time, the A-100 AWACS is equipped with a complete ECM/ESM (electronic countermeasures/electronic support), communication/tactical data link systems, designed to command Su-57 and Su-35S fighters in combat, with far better target processing batch counts and air combat command capabilities than the A-50/A-50U AWACS. Especially this dual-panel radar design was quite ingenious, keeping pace with the development trend. Such a relatively up-to-date model suddenly abandoned after 21 years of development suggests that there must be something wrong with its subsystems. In fact, a simple analysis can lead to this conclusion. The A-100 AWACS originally had two prototype aircraft, but after much flying around, there was still only one prototype aircraft flying, with the other prototype aircraft left on the apron at Taganrog Airport without the radar installed. There is no other explanation except that Russia couldn't handle its radar system. Looking at the current state of Russia's radar industry, Russia's radar industry skills are all focused on passive phased array radars. Currently, the only fighter-mounted active phased array fire control radar is the N036 series on the Su-57. However, there are only twenty or so Su-57... It can be said that Russia doesn't even know whether they have mastered the mass production of active phased array fire control radars. This applies to the A-100 AWACS as well; from the beginning, rumors suggested that it used imported components assembled into a radar that could never be mass-produced, only handcrafted in a laboratory. So, what's the use of having this aircraft? Therefore, the final abandonment of the A-100 AWACS by the Russian Aerospace Forces can only be described as a completely helpless outcome. Survivability of AWACS As for what FightBomber said, that the survivability of AWACS in modern air combat has greatly decreased, and that the battlefield can be monitored using the fire control radar of fighters to replace the role of AWACS... The fact proves that Americans once thought this way too. Back in the day, when replacing the E-3A AWACS, the US considered using the F-35A fighter jet paired with the MADL data link to achieve distributed operations. However, after verification, it was found that it could not replace the role of AWACS, and they had no choice but to purchase the E-7A AWACS. Of course, now that the Americans themselves can't build the E-7A AWACS, their new idea is to use low-orbit radar early warning satellite constellations to replace the role of AWACS, but they haven't said they don't need AWACS altogether. So, from the perspective of the US Air Force regarding AWACS, their view is that even with F-35A squadrons and AN/APG-81 fire control radars, they haven't said they would completely abandon AWACS, using the fire control radar of fighters to replace the role of AWACS. Russia is simply retracing America's old path. As for the threat posed by long-range air-to-air missiles, ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, and ground-to-air missiles to AWACS? That mainly depends on how to counteract them. Anyway, your A-50U will definitely become electronic waste on future battlefields, let alone our giant antenna rods. With J-20 fighters equipped with PL-15 firing at twice the speed of sound at 15,000 meters altitude, they could easily knock out an A-50U... As for AWACS of the A-100 level, if everything goes smoothly, it's just a matter of replacing the PL-15 with giant antenna rods. Therefore, in future air combat, there are several ways for AWACS to enhance their survivability: Firstly, continuously extending the situational awareness distance, extending the airspace awareness distance from the current 500 kilometers to 1000 kilometers, and extending the awareness distance for stealth fighters to 300 kilometers, which can basically ensure their own safety. Secondly, staying within the lethal area of ground-to-air missiles. Judging from the situation in the India-Pakistan conflict, ground-to-air missiles have the capability to intercept large ground-to-air missiles, such as the Barma LY-80 intercepting the 40N6 missile. In theory, ground-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles can also intercept large antenna rods. Missiles targeting AWACS can be dealt with by the escort aircraft's air-to-air missiles/ground-to-air missiles. Thirdly, developing hard-kill capabilities for AWACS, such as equipping them with small interceptor missiles, directed energy weapons, or even using the pencil beam of the AWACS radar to burn through the guidance heads of air-to-air missiles, the key lies in how to counteract them. After all, the airspace surveillance and combat command functions of AWACS cannot be fully replaced until now, not because we don't know how to counteract them, but because we give up on these types of equipment. That means the completeness of the Russian Aerospace Forces' future air combat system will further decline. What else can Russia do? In general, with the Russian military abandoning its own A-100 AWACS, the United States also abandoned its E-7A AWACS, and the UK and France's AWACS are completely in a state of disrepair, the only countries still continuing to research and equip AWACS are us and North Korea... This was really unexpected! Of course, the AWACS of North Korea was analyzed in our previous article "The General's Internet Cafe? North Korea's AWACS officially revealed, military enthusiasts热议: why are there so many 'useless' LCD screens?" It's just a playful prop, and mainly it's our own AWACS. In the future, our AWACS will form a contract airspace surveillance system composed of strategic large-scale AWACS, tactical AWACS, unmanned AWACS, aerostats, and other equipment, with monitoring methods not only involving active radio frequency systems but also passive radio frequency systems. In terms of types, numbers, and performance, our AWACS will far surpass those of the United States currently. As for Russia? There's no need to mention it, after abandoning the A-100 AWACS, the Russian Aerospace Forces can be said to have basically lost the ability to conduct large-scale, high-tech aerial campaigns, regressing into a force capable of only suppressing regional second-tier air forces like Ukraine's or conducting regional interventions. In other words, the positioning of the future Russian Aerospace Forces will be similar to that of the French Air Force, especially with the advent of next-generation fighters by China and the US, Russia will fall further behind. Of course, for the Russian Aerospace Forces, there is still room to turn things around now. We'll have to say that again - "a single thought can change everything!" Look, we have these ready-made KJ-2000 AWACS, the technical solutions are mature, and the performance is advanced enough, far surpassing your A-50U. Do you want them? If not, we have better options! The KJ-500, which is one generation ahead of the KJ-2000 in performance, and absolutely more mature and advanced than your A-100! Now that we urgently need to replace new AWACS, the KJ-500 is considered an older model here, do you want it? If not, we have plenty of export versions of fire control radars available. So, for Russia, it's just a matter of whether they can think clearly about it. Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7507108575580406307/ Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Feel free to express your opinion by clicking the "Top/Downvote" buttons below.