Il'yushin/Beriyev A-50

Brought out in the late 1970s as a successor to the obsolete Tu-126 airborne early warning aircraft, the A-50 co-developed by the Il'yushin and Beriyev bureaux is one of the most interesting military variants in the field of IL-76 military transport.

Differing outwardly from the latter mainly in having a conventional "saucer" rotodome, the A-50 entered flight testing in 1980; the new Soviet AWACS entered service four years later.

The improved A-50M was developed several years after that.

The type continues in service with the Russian Air Force today, and the fleet is being upgraded to A-50U standard.

This book describes the A-50's thrilling developmental history, taking in its many variants (including the A-50EI export model for India) and gives an extensive overview of the various scale model kits covering the subject currently available on the market.