Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Putin's nuclear 'doomsday' plane broken into at Russian airfield, communications gear stolen

Russia’s so-called “doomsday” plane, a top-secret military aircraft designed to help Vladimir Putin stay in charge from the skies should a nuclear war break out, has been broken into and robbed of much of its communications gear
.
© Provided by National Post An Ilyushin Il-80, Russian military aircraft modified from the Ilyushin Il-86 airliner, known as the Doomsday Plane, is seen in Moscow region, Russia February 9, 2012. Picture taken February 9, 2012.

The Guardian reports that the plane, a military craft called the Ilyushin-80, was entered via a cargo door at a Russian airfield in the city of Taganrog. The robbery at the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex took place as maintenance work was being carried out, and raises questions about the security of sensitive military-related installations.

The theft first came to light earlier this week in reports by Russian media, including the REN TV channel, which said signs of a break-in had been spotted last Friday and that 39 electronic units had been removed.

The plane is meant to keep Putin and other top Russian officials safe in the worst-case scenario, and does not even have any windows for passengers, to protect their eyes from the glare of would-be atomic bombs.


It carries an antenna that it can hang out and use to make contact with submarines, and among the communications gear on board, the Guardian reports, is technology that helps its passengers stay in touch with the Russian army, to let them preside over missile forces, even while airborne for days.

But it turns out the plane wasn’t even safe itself. Police found both fingerprints and shoeprints on board, but the thieves remain at large. Police gave no details about the nature of the stolen equipment except for its estimated worth — more than 1 million roubles ($13,600).

As well as the raided plane, Russia has three more Ilyushin-80s, which are modified versions of the Ilyushin Il-86, a Soviet passenger jet. The modified jets were made during the late Cold War to serve as aerial command posts.

Russian military experts speculated that the items had been stolen because some of the units had been assembled using precious metals such as gold and platinum.

The incident comes after Putin plowed vast funds into overhauling the Russian military amid tensions with the West that are at their highest since the end of the Cold War.

The Kremlin said measures would be taken to stop such a theft occurring again.

— with files from Reuters


No comments:

Post a Comment