As is known, the Beriev A-50EI AEW&C system was developed under the Russo-Indo-Israeli contract signed in 2004 as a derivative of the Ilyushin Il-76TD airlifter made by TAPC (Uzbekistan), powered by Beriev-installed Aviadvigatel/Perm Engine Company PS-90A-76 engines and equipped with Israeli radar system MSA Phalcon that was installed by its manufacturer ELTA. In addition, a datalink from Russian corporation Vega is mounted on the aircraft.

The first plane built under the contract on the basis of the airframe of Il-76TD c/n 94-02 first flew in Taganrog on 29 November 2007 and entered service with IAF two years ago, in May 2009, serialled KW3551. The second unit, based on the airframe of Il-76TD c/n 94-03 and serialled KW3552, conducted its maiden flight from Beriev’s airfield on 11 January 2009 and was delivered in March 2010. The final, third aircraft derived from the airframe of Il-76TD c/n 94-04 performed its first flight in Taganrog on 9 June last year and was ferried to Israel on 8 October. With its delivery this spring, the 2004 contract has been fulfilled.

Nonetheless, the parties are gearing up for making another contract for three more aircraft. In particular, Rosoboronexport Deputy Director General Victor Komardin mentioned this at the Bangalore air show this February. He said the delivery of the third A-50EI “will be followed by another three”. “We are waiting for the request”, Mr. Komardin said in February.

To manufacture next three A-50EIs, there is a plan to use TAPC’s backlog of Il-76TD airlifters that will refined, completed and fitted with PS-90A-76 engines by Beriev and then equipped with the radar system and tested in Israel as it was done under the first contract. However, a final configuration of the deal will hinge on TAPC’s preparedness and the Uzbek government’s decision to take part in fulfilling a new export contract.

As is known, to avoid dependence on Uzbek suppliers, the Aviastar plant in Ulyanovsk launched the productionising of an upgraded Il-76 version (Project 476) in line with the Russian governmental directive dated 20 December 2006. The first Russian-built flying protoype of the Il-76-TD-90A (c/n 01-02) is to be completed before the end of this year. Aircraft like that are supposed to be made not only in the military airlifter and commercial freighter versions, but also as a platform for deriving a tanker plane, an AEW&C aircraft and other applications.

For instance, at the late-April International Air Transport Forum in Ulyanovsk, a model of such a promising AEW&C aircraft based on the Project 476 airframe was unveiled to the participants in the forum and the public. The aircraft featured an advanced wing design, PS-90A-76 engines and other design peculiarities of the future Aviastar-built Il-76s. The aircraft has all of the properties of the A-50 AEW&C plane and its subsequent versions and upgrades – the radar with the antenna in the disc-shaped radome on top of the fuselage, other extra antennae and equipment cooling air intakes in various sections of the airframe, fuselage nose section devoid of the navigator’s station characteristic of the transport versions of the Il-76, in-flight refuelling system, etc.

Obviously, the unveiled model has the purely presentational purpose to demonstrate the prospect of Programme 476. However, it makes sense to assume that it is such a platform that this country will use further down the road to make advanced AEW&C aircraft both for its own military and for export.