Vega Radio Engineering Corporation JSC has tested the experimental sensor for 976 SKIP special aircraft to support missile exercises.

According to the CAST Centre, the 976 SKIP special aircraft (registration 76455, serial number 54-02) was spotted at the airfield of the JSC Flight Research Institute n.a. M.M. Gromov in Zhukovsky.

The 976 SKIP, also named IL-76SK, is an aircraft command and tracking station developed for support cruise and ballistic missile tests. Il-976 was designed in the 80s, it represents a hybrid of Il-7бMD and A-50. 

The aircraft has fixed radar cover filled with special equipment to collect, process and transmit in real time information about the flight of missiles.

The 976 SKIP also monitored the test of a new RS-24 “Yars” intercontinental ballistic missile.