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Flurry of government aircraft activity over Russia draws attention
This is a fairly long article with a lot of documentation.
Flurry Of Government Aircraft Activity Over Russia Draws Attention: We Break It Down
The flights included a mass launch of Russia's strategic communications, command post, and VVIP aircraft out of Moscow.
Over the course of two days this past week, as the conflict in Ukraine raged on, a significant number of aircraft assigned to Russia's Rossiya Special Flight Detachment have made curious flights in and around the country. This unit, technically part of state-owned Rossiya Airlines, a division of the flag carrier Aeroflot, operates a variety of specialized planes, including airborne command posts, communications relay jets, and VVIP aircraft, among others. The sorties have come amid a flurry of other interesting flight activity emanating from Russia, as well.
The flights in question took place between Thursday and Friday, March 17 and 18. It should be noted immediately that the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment's aircraft fly regularly and that the total number of sorties was not necessarily higher than one might expect to see, at least as part of average day-to-day or week-to-week activity. However, what was visible via online flight tracking software drew particular attention because of the unusually coordinated nature of a large number of flights all at once from the Moscow area followed by the largely unexplained dispersal of many of them to intriguing locations, particularly to the east.
On Friday, online flight tracking software showed at least six planes from the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment departing from the Moscow area in relatively rapid succession, including an Il-96-300PU presidential plane, a Russian equivalent to America's VC-25A Air Force One jets, and a smaller Tu-214PU airborne command post jet. Another specialized aircraft assigned to this unit, the Il-96-400VPU, was also subsequently spotted leaving the Moscow area. The Il-96-400VPU is generally believed to be a "doomsday" plane able to provide command and control for Russian nuclear forces in a crisis, and that is roughly analogous to the U.S. Air Force's E-4B Nightwatch jets.
More: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44814/flurry-of-government-aircraft-activity-over-russia-draws-attention-we-break-it-down
The flights included a mass launch of Russia's strategic communications, command post, and VVIP aircraft out of Moscow.
Over the course of two days this past week, as the conflict in Ukraine raged on, a significant number of aircraft assigned to Russia's Rossiya Special Flight Detachment have made curious flights in and around the country. This unit, technically part of state-owned Rossiya Airlines, a division of the flag carrier Aeroflot, operates a variety of specialized planes, including airborne command posts, communications relay jets, and VVIP aircraft, among others. The sorties have come amid a flurry of other interesting flight activity emanating from Russia, as well.
The flights in question took place between Thursday and Friday, March 17 and 18. It should be noted immediately that the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment's aircraft fly regularly and that the total number of sorties was not necessarily higher than one might expect to see, at least as part of average day-to-day or week-to-week activity. However, what was visible via online flight tracking software drew particular attention because of the unusually coordinated nature of a large number of flights all at once from the Moscow area followed by the largely unexplained dispersal of many of them to intriguing locations, particularly to the east.
On Friday, online flight tracking software showed at least six planes from the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment departing from the Moscow area in relatively rapid succession, including an Il-96-300PU presidential plane, a Russian equivalent to America's VC-25A Air Force One jets, and a smaller Tu-214PU airborne command post jet. Another specialized aircraft assigned to this unit, the Il-96-400VPU, was also subsequently spotted leaving the Moscow area. The Il-96-400VPU is generally believed to be a "doomsday" plane able to provide command and control for Russian nuclear forces in a crisis, and that is roughly analogous to the U.S. Air Force's E-4B Nightwatch jets.
More: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44814/flurry-of-government-aircraft-activity-over-russia-draws-attention-we-break-it-down
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