MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Russia is a leader in developing strategic long-range radar aircraft, Holder of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Academician Alexander Raspletin Award, Chief Designer of Vega Group, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Verba told TASS on Thursday.

"No state in the world has set a task before industry to create a new generation of strategic long-range radar aircraft. In principle, it will take at least ten years for any country to implement such a program," the chief designer said.

"The basic efforts of our foreign counterparts are focused on modernizing existing and adjusting available technologies for lighter carriers of radar systems. Meanwhile, we have already fulfilled the modernization task and have made the best use of the A-50 platform, upgrading it to the level of the A-50U and already six planes have started to accomplish missions for Russia’s Aerospace Force. That is, we are a priori leaders in this area," he noted.

The scientist received the award for a cycle of scientific works on substantiating the areas of developing and the principles of constructing and operating a new-generation multiservice airborne platform of radar surveillance and guidance as an information and control system. The A-100 Premier multirole radar surveillance and guidance aircraft platform developed by Vega Group is at the initial stage of its trials.

"We still have to go through a laborious and lengthy process of confirming operational characteristics set by the specifications and testing the system’s interaction with other resources and capabilities of Russia’s Aerospace Force in various theaters of operations. This is multi-factor and large-scale work with great variation in the timeframe of achieving interim results. I am confident in one thing: the work will be completed in compliance with the schedule agreed with the customer," the scientist stressed.