21.02.2026
The Russian Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex named after G. M. Beriev , which specializes in the production of unique long-range radar detection aircraft A-50, A-100 and others, announced losses for 2025 of more than 5 billion rubles. What is noteworthy, Ukraine is also directly related to this.
About how important the aircraft produced at this enterprise are for the army of the invaders, and what the consequences will be now, in the material of the joint project OBOZ.UA and the group “Information Resistance”.
In 2024, the G. M. Beriev TANTK proudly reported a profit for the year of 1.19 billion rubles, and it would seem that under current conditions the enterprise should develop and receive new orders from the state. But 2025 showed a completely different scenario. The complex not only has losses, but also a huge debt to creditors of 27 billion rubles.
A virtually unique aircraft manufacturing enterprise in Russia, specializing in the design, production, modernization, and maintenance of high-tech aircraft, found itself on the verge of bankruptcy and ruin. How did this happen?
No matter how strange it may seem, the enterprise was also destroyed by the war with Ukraine.
The fall of the white “Bumblebee”
The most famous product of the G. M. Beriev TANTK is the A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft, well recognized by its saucer-shaped radio-technical complex “Bumblebee”.
These aircraft are considered the most high-tech products of the enterprise, its pride and calling card. Thanks to this complex, it was possible to survive all these years, engaged in the repair, modernization and maintenance of the A-50s. In addition, the enterprise received budget funds for the development of new, promising anti-aircraft missile and rocket aircraft, for example, the A-100, which were to replace the morally and technically obsolete A-50s.
Yes, you were not mistaken: speaking of the A-50 as the most high-tech product of the G.M. Beriev TANTK, I called them morally and technically obsolete. The planes have indeed become obsolete a long time ago, but these are the only AWACS that exist in Russia. Or are they no longer there?
The first A-50 was damaged during the war with Ukraine and lost the ability to perform its assigned tasks on February 26, 2023, when an FPV drone hit the Shmiel radio complex of the aircraft, which was based at the Belarusian Machulishche airfield.
The aircraft was evacuated to the G. M. Beriev TANTK for repair, but, as it turned out, the company’s specialists are not capable of repairing such an outdated, but complex complex as the “Bumblebee”.
In addition, on January 14, 2024, an A-50 aircraft was shot down in the north of the Sea of Azov near the village of Kyrylivka, in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhia region. This aircraft was irretrievably lost. And literally a month later, on February 23, 2024, a second A-50 was shot down and crashed near the village of Trudova Armenia, Krasnodar Territory, Russia.
After these two losses, the Russian command began to avoid using the A-50 near the borders with Ukraine, and given its limited capabilities for conducting airspace reconnaissance, this made the only AWACS aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force pointless in a real war.
On the night of March 9, 2024, the A-50, which was at the enterprise, undergoing repairs and standing near the hangar in the open air, was damaged by a long-range strike drone GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The aircraft was not completely destroyed, but it was clearly in a state that was irreversible for flight.
During the SBU operation “Website” on June 1, 2025, at least two A-50 aircraft were damaged at the Ivanovo airbase, one of which was previously damaged at the Belarusian Machulishche airfield by a hit by an FPV drone, which never received repairs.
On the night of November 25, 2025, a series of strikes were carried out on the Beriev TANTK, as a result of which the unique experimental A-60 aircraft and the A-100LL flying laboratory , which were used to conduct scientific and technical research for the modernization of the A-50 project and the development of the A-100, were destroyed. Without this aircraft, the development of anti-aircraft missile systems in Russia can be considered dead.
In fact, today Russia may have only three A-50 aircraft in flightable, functional condition. However, their modernization and development of the project are not only impossible due to the destruction of the research base, but are also not considered advisable by the Russian command, since these aircraft have shown both their low efficiency and high vulnerability.
In essence, the promising project of squandering budget funds on an unpromising project, as well as the loss of the sides, the maintenance of which the enterprise could have survived for a long time, rested in the balance.
But it wasn’t just the loss of the planes themselves that became a problem for the company.
Priority goal
The G. M. Beriev TANTK has always been a priority target for strikes by the Ukrainian Defense Forces, but our drones and missiles could not always reach it. In the first years of the full-scale invasion, the obstacle was both the lack of long-range weapons and the high density of Russian echeloned air defense.
But over time, Ukraine began to have means capable of reaching Taganrog, while Russia had fewer and fewer air defense means, and the “white spots” – gaps in the defense – on the contrary, expanded and multiplied.
On the night of March 9, 2024, Taganrog was subjected to a massive attack drone raid. It lasted almost two hours and was aimed at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex and directly at the G. M. Beriev TANTK.
But the most devastating strike was carried out on the night of November 29, 2025, during which the A-60, A-100LL, and Il-76 were destroyed . And, probably, the Tu-95MS, which was under repair in the hangar, was damaged.
The G. M. Beriev TANTK has not just become a dangerous enterprise, but a convenient stationary target for the destruction of rare representatives of heavy, strategic aviation. In fact, the repair and modernization of A-50, Tu-95, Il-76 at this enterprise has turned into an analogue of Russian roulette, with all the ensuing consequences, risks and irretrievable losses.
Conclusions
Financial losses of the G. M. Beriev TANTK are a completely expected result of the war with Ukraine. The products that the enterprise can service, repair and modernize have lost their former significance and interest of the command. We can forget about the promising development of the A-100, which at the present stage is already morally and technically obsolete.
Carrying out any work at the enterprise’s facilities is a risk. Strikes by Ukrainian drones and missiles not only destroyed several unique examples of Rosaviatsia, but also caused destruction to the enterprise itself, damaging production lines and slowing down the work process.
In fact, Ukraine’s actions in response to the aggression put an end to the future of Russia’s unique enterprise .