As of: January 30, 2024, 10:53 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Another Ilyushin 20 flying without a detection signal was spotted over the Baltic Sea (symbolic photo).
© Maxim Kuzovkov/Imago
A Russian military aircraft was flying over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday.
Without recognition signal.
A look at the exact model allows conclusions to be drawn.
Berlin - A Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying without a transponder over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday (January 30) triggered the start of an alarm group by the German Air Force.
Before Rügen, the Russian military aircraft was “identified” in international airspace and “accompanied for a short time” and then turned back east, according to the Air Force.
The Ilyushin 20 reconnaissance aircraft has special equipment for electronic and telecommunications reconnaissance.
Russian spy plane without transponder over the Baltic Sea - not an isolated case
Transponders are usually used to clearly identify and locate aircraft.
The fact that a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flew over the Baltic Sea without a recognition signal is not an isolated case: Germany and Great Britain had already sent Eurofighters to identify Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea without transponder recognition last year.
Including an Ilyushin IL-20, as the German Air Force announced at the time.
These spy planes from Russia were also frequently spotted over European waters during the Cold War.
Russian spy plane over the Baltic Sea: Learning from the past
The Ilyushin IL-20M was first produced in the 1970s; its predecessor, the IL-20, was also given the unofficial nickname “Beast from the East” in military circles.
The NATO code of the IL-20M is Coot-A (in German: “Kauz-A”).
In the Russian Air Force, the Ilyushin is sometimes used as a flying command post, as
Radio Free Europe
reports.
The special feature: The machine is equipped with electronic intelligence, or ELINT for short, as well as communication intelligence, or COMINT for short.
This means that the spy plane can detect satellites or radio waves, for example, but also communication that takes place via cable - such as Internet or telephone.
With the help of electronic intelligence, the evaluation of electromagnetic radiation is also possible.
These are used, for example, in navigation systems or military steering systems.
Accordingly, the combined data can be used to create a military situation picture.
One can only speculate as to what specific mission the Russian reconnaissance aircraft had over the Baltic Sea, but a look into the past provides a clue.
Ilyushin IL-20M over the Baltic Sea: What was the mission of the spy plane?
Long before the start of the war in Ukraine, there had already been an incident with the Ilyushin 20-M over the Baltic Sea on April 25, 2013.
There the reconnaissance aircraft almost violated Swedish airspace.
As observers analyzed at the time, the reason for this could have been a military exercise in Sweden that had started a few days earlier.
“The annual exercise involves an intensive signal link between the headquarters in Karlskrona, Enköping and Uppsala;
Signals that could be of interest to the Russian Il-20,” wrote the online trade journal
The Aviationist
.
The experts continued that the machine's presence could also have served to test the air defense readiness of the Swedish Air Force.
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The German Air Force's alert squad these days usually consists of two Eurofighters, which take off within a few minutes to check for or ward off threats.
The IL-20M's flyover on Tuesday could also have been a test of how responsive Europe's air defense really is.
In addition, Steadfast Defender, the largest NATO exercise in decades, is currently taking place.
An emergency attack on alliance territory is to be rehearsed with 90,000 soldiers.
The exercise's communications and military data could be of interest to Moscow.