ULYANOVSK, November 21. /TASS/. The Taganrog-based Beriyev Aviation Scientific-Technical Complex (TANTK) on Friday will receive the first series Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A Ulyanovsk plane for making an advanced airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft on its base, the plane manufacturer Aviastar-SP said.

“The A-100 Premier AWACS aircraft prototype will be made on the Ilyushin aircraft basis in Taganrog (in Russia’s southern Rostov region),” the company said.

The manufacturing cycle for one Il-76MD-90A plane is two years and 13 aircraft of the IL-76 family are currently at different stages of manufacture.

The advanced AWACS plane A-100 Premier designed to replace the A-50 aircraft will have an advanced active phase array capable of detecting and tracking airborne and land-based targets.

The Russian Air Force has around 20 A-50 Mainstay AWACS planes, based on the Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft. The A-50 is equipped with the large Liana surveillance radar with its antenna in an over-fuselage rotodome and can control up to ten fighter aircraft for either air-to-air intercept or air-to-ground attack missions.