Gordon, Y./Kommissarov, D. Ilyushin/Beriya A-50. The soviet Sentry

Brought out in the late 1970s as a successor to the obsolete Tu-126 airborne early
warning aircraft, the A-50 co-developed by the Ilyushin and Beriyev bureaux is one of
the most interesting military variants in the field of IL-76 military transport. Differing
outwardly from the latter mainly in having a conventional "saucer" rotodome, the A-50
entered flight testing in 1980; the new Soviet AWACS entered service four years later.
The improved A-50M was developed several years after that. The type continues in
service with the Russian Air Force today, and the fleet is being upgraded to A-50U
standard. This book describes the A-50's thrilling developmental history, taking in its many variants
(including the A-50EI export model for India) and gives an extensive overview of the
various scale model kits covering the subject currently available on the market.