NATO Baltic Air Policing QRA MiG-29 jets on 28 AUG scrambled to intercept RU Armed Forces 1x A-50, 2x Su-27 over the Baltic Sea.
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) August 28, 2014
The A-50 is an early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C) referred to by NATO with the codename Mainstay.
The A-50 detects and identifies airborne objects, determines their coordinates and flight path data and transfers the information to command posts, writes airforce-technology.com. The A-50 also acts as a control centre, guiding fighter-interceptors and tactical air force aircraft to combat areas in order to attack ground targets at low altitudes.
The Su-27 is a big long-range air superiority fighter, comparable to the U.S. F-15 but superior in many respects according to military hardware experts, writes fighter-planes.com.
This was the latest in a series of unexpected fly-overs for which Baltic-based NATO BAP patrol planes have scrambled in recent months. A previous incident was reported August 1 involving a Russian Armed Forces Sukhoi supersonic all-weather attack aircraft Su-24, as well as a Russian Armed Forces Antonov transport plane An-24.
