Two Russian A-50 AWACS aircraft damaged during Operation Cobweb — report

Security analyst Jimmy Rushton said that Ukrainian FPV (first-person view) drones struck the radar domes of two A-50s at the site.

“I’ve been shown unreleased footage of Sunday’s SBU drone attack. I can confirm at least two A-50 AWACS aircraft were struck by drones; the FPV drones landing directly on the radar domes before detonating,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

Rushton added that the footage shows “multiple” Tu-22M3 strategic bombers damaged in the attack.

Journalist Michael Weiss made a similar assessment. 

“Just watched a video showing Ukrainian FPVs hitting two Russian A-50s,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Can't share the video just yet, but this confirms scuttlebutt from SBU that they knackered two irreplaceable Soviet-era early warning and control aircraft. Russia only has six. Well, now four.”

Planned and executed on June 1 by the SBU, Operation Cobweb involved swarms of remote-controlled FPV drones striking Russian strategic aviation assets across four airfields in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ryazan, and Ivanovo oblasts. The UAVs were deployed from containers that were delivered in the vicinity of the airfields by unwitting Russian truckers.

According to the SBU, the operation damaged 41 enemy aircraft, including the A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160. Agency head Vasyl Malyuk estimated the damaged aircraft accounted for 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers.