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Belarus partisans said they blew up a Russian A-50 surveillance military aircraft The two Belarusians who carried out operation had used drones, it was claimed Belarusian partisans and members of the country's exiled opposition said they damaged Vladimir Putin's A-50U surveillance military aircraft in a secret mission. Two participants had used drones and had already left the country, claimed Franak Viacorka, a close adviser of opposition figurehead Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Front and central parts of the AWACS Beriev A-50U aircraft as well as the radar antenna were damaged from two explosions at the Machulishchy air base near Minsk, Belarusian anti-government organisation...

Albatros: hunting subs and quenching fires 16:17 | 09/ 08/ 2006 MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti defense commentator Viktor Litovkin) - Russia has some unique models of combat hardware that were developed in the Soviet years. One of these is the A-40 amphibian, or the Albatros (the Mermaid, in NATO classification), a product of the Beriev Taganrog Aviation Research and Engineering Complex. This is the world's only turbojet that can take off and land both on water and at a conventional airport. It can perform numerous tasks: search for SSBNs (ballistic missile submarines), rescue merchant vessels and warships in distress, and even...