When did the USSR get its first AWACS aircraft?

Short answer

The Tu-126 entered service in 1965, though Western intelligence did not identify it until 1968, when it appeared in a Soviet documentary. The first prototype had flown on January 23, 1962, and the requirement for an airborne radar system dates back to 1958.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

When did the USSR get its first AWACS aircraft?

Beriev A-50Dmitry Terekhov from Odintsovo, Russian Federation (CC BY SA), vía commons

A flying radar against attack from the north

In 1958, growing concern about the threat of a US nuclear attack on the USSR from the north led to a new requirement for an airborne radar system. The first Tu-126 prototype flew on January 23, 1962. It carried the Liana radar, codenamed Flap Jack by NATO, in a rotodome. Compared with the narrower Tu-95 and Tu-116, the chosen configuration solved the cooling and operator space problems.

In service in 1965, discovered in 1968

The Tu-126 entered service in 1965, but the West did not identify it until 1968, after it appeared in a Soviet documentary. Trials, which continued through the autumn of 1964, showed that the radar was effective over the sea but performed worse over land.

Limits and retirement

The large counter-rotating propellers of the four engines seriously compromised the radar's performance. The aircraft had no look-down capability, so once NATO switched to low-level penetration it became largely irrelevant. The last Tu-126 was retired in 1984.