All news

Russia’s new reconnaissance aircraft to see targets even below ground — developer

The data coming onboard the aircraft give detailed radar images of facilities hidden by fog, smoke, snow, soil and plants

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. The radar system of Russia’s new Tupolev Tu-214R reconnaissance aircraft is capable of seeing facilities hidden or camouflaged below the snow, the tree-tops and even under the ground, a representative for the United Instrument-Making Corporation said on Monday.

The radar manufacturer is part of Rostec hi-tech state corporation.

"The multi-frequency radar developed and produced by our Vega Group helps receive information maximally promptly, with more qualitative image details. The data coming onboard the aircraft give detailed radar images of facilities hidden by fog, smoke, snow, soil and plants," the representative said.

Amid conditions of dry sandy soils, the system is capable of receiving the images of facilities located at a depth of several dozen meters actually irrespective of the aircraft’s altitude, the representative said.

"Now the aircraft built at the Kazan Aviation Plant continues flight tests and is preparing for state trials scheduled for the second half of this year," the corporation’s representative said.

The data of open sources show that the Tu-214R is a radar and optic-electronic reconnaissance aircraft developed in the late 2000s on the basis of the Tu-214 passenger airliner for the replacement of the Il-20 plane. The new aircraft was scheduled to enter service in 2013 but these plans were not implemented.