Belarus President acknowledged some injury was brought on by the drone assault carried out on the finish of February.

A “terrorist” and greater than 20 accomplices working with Ukrainian and U.S. intelligence providers are detained in Belarus over tried sabotage at a Russian airborne early warning & management plane at Machulishchy Airbase, Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko was cited as saying on Mar. 7, 2023. “The Safety Service of Ukraine, the management of the CIA, behind closed doorways, are finishing up an operation in opposition to the Republic of Belarus. A terrorist was educated,” the Belta information company quoted Lukashenko as saying.

On Feb. 26, 2023, the Belarusian partisan group, BYPOL, mentioned a Russian Beriev A-50U Mainstay had been severely broken in a drone assault on the base close to Minsk, a declare disputed by Russia and Belarus, that a couple of days later launched footage of the radar jet working from the Belarusian airport. Excessive-rez satellite tv for pc pictures launched by Maxar confirmed the A-50U just about intact on the apron of the Belarusian air base. As defined, whereas they appeared to rule out heavy injury was inflicted to the plane, the imagery didn’t show the precious “flying radar” hadn’t be broken in a roundabout way by the assault.

Within the following days, the Belarusian anti-government activists launched two clips supposedly exhibiting the assault carried out with mild drones: the primary confirmed the small quadcopter because it carried out a kind of reconnaissance flight, touchdown on the radar dome of the A-50U after which depart. The second clip, confirmed the quadcopter drone launching from simply outdoors the perimeter fence of the airport, getting near the radar jet, overflying the entrance part of the plane and ultimately touchdown on the SATCOM antenna cowl of the Mainstay.

At this level, the video feed minimize, as if a detonation had been triggered when the drone touched down and, though nonetheless inconclusive in offering precise proof that the assault had been carried out as claimed, the breaking within the video hyperlink prompt an explosion may need occurred.

In the long run, the admission by Lukashenko has confirmed a drone assault was carried out with some injury suffered by the jet:

“Luckily, the airplane has not suffered any vital injury, besides, as they are saying, scratches and one gap within the hull, which doesn’t forestall a army airplane from performing its duties,” the BelTA information company quoted Lukashenko as saying.

In line with Lukashenko, Belarus requested the Russian facet to take this airplane for upkeep, changing it with one other one. “That’s what has occurred,” the president famous in response to Russian TASS information company.

A unique colour within the SATCOM dome, per a alternative of its cowling, have been seen within the pictures of the A-50U flying after the assault and there have been additionally claims that the Mainstay had returned to Taganrog airfield, in southwest Russia, residence of the Taganrog Beriyev Aviation Scientific-Technical Complicated.

Питання щодо обтікача антени. pic.twitter.com/lv7olE0d27

— MilitaryAviationInUa (@Ukraine_AF) March 3, 2023

On the opposite facet, whereas denying an involvement within the drone assault, the Ukrainian army has a distinct tackle the assault, stating that the A-50U Mainstay was not simply barely broken:

The Russian A-50U plane was severely broken through the assault by Belarusian partisans at Machulishchy army airfield. This was acknowledged by Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the Nationwide Safety and Protection Council of Ukraine.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/vydmt6k6XR

— Belarusian Hajun mission (@Hajun_BY) March 7, 2023

Danilov additionally mentioned that Ukrainians are grateful to Belarusians who assist Ukraine:
“As for the folks of Belarus, you realize that a lot of Belarusians assist us to battle the enemy on our territory. We’re grateful to them for that.”
3/3

— Belarusian Hajun mission (@Hajun_BY) March 7, 2023

David Cenciotti is a journalist primarily based in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and skim army aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and plenty of others, protecting aviation, protection, struggle, business, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with totally different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Pressure, a personal pilot and a graduate in Pc Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.