Two military transport planes from the long-range radar tracking aircraft service centre arrived at the Belarusian Machulishchy military airfield, where the A-50 aircraft which might have been attacked on 26 February is located.

Source: monitoring project Belaruski Hajun on Telegram

Details: Belaruski Hajun believes that this may be additional evidence that the A-50 was damaged.

It is reported that military transport aircraft IL-76 (RF-86843) and an An-26 of the Russian Aerospace Forces arrived at the Machulishchy airfield in the evening of 26 February – the day of sabotage with the A-50U airborne early warning and control aircraft (AWACS).

On the morning of 27 February, the Il-76 flew to the Russian Ivanovo-Severny airfield, where the 610th Centre for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel, the Air Technical Base and the 308th Aircraft Repair Plant are stationed.

The monitoring project notes that it is in the 610th Centre that A-50 AWACS aircraft are stored, upgraded and repaired. The Il-76 military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (RF-86843) is listed as property of the 610th Centre.

On 28 February, an An-26 aircraft also flew to the Ivanovo-Severny airfield.

Belaruski Hajun notes that satellite images from July 2022 show that at least nine A-50 aircraft are in storage at this airfield, and another one is under repair.

Two IL-76 military transport aircraft belonging to the 610th Center arrived at the Machulishchy airfield in July 2022, when the A-50 was there.

Belaruski Hajun believes that all these facts are indirect confirmation of the technical problems that arose with the A-50U aircraft, which was damaged on February 26 as a result of sabotage by Belarusian partisans.

The Il-76 transport could deliver specialists or a set of spare parts for the repair of the A-50U AWACS to the Machulishchy airfield.

According to the monitoring project, during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, at least four A-50 aircraft were stationed at the military airfields of Belarus at various times (RF-50608 – currently, RF-50610, RF-94268 and RF-93966).

Background: 

• During 26 February, explosions occurred at the Machulishchy airbase in Minsk Oblast in Belarus. There was information about a damaged Russian aircraft.
• Alexander Azarov, Head of the BYPOL initiative, reported that Belarusian partisans were involved in sabotage at the Machulishchy airbase in Belarus. According to him, the participants of the possible sabotage have left Belarus and are now safe.
• A day after the incident at the military airbase in the village of Machulishchy in Belarus, the Belarusian border guards significantly enhanced control of people leaving the country.

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