Northern Fleet gets modernized anti-submarine plane
Russia’s Northern Fleet has taken a modernized Ilyushin Il-38N anti-submarine warfare aircraft into service.
The aircraft will also be used to carry out electronic intelligence (ELINT) duties.
“The modernized Il-38N has a wider range of combat capabilities”, the Northern Fleet’s press spokesman Captain Vadim Serga says. “These aircraft can be used for mapping the magnetic and gravitational fields of the Arctic Ocean, and also for conducting scientific oceanographic research and underwater and air reconnaissance”, Serga says to RIA Novosti.
The majority of the fleet’s Il-38s will be modernized to the new standard. The aircraft is equipped with the Novella sensor system, which is able to detect targets at a distance of up to 320 kilometers as well as radar observation of underwater, surface and airborne targets.
The Novella system includes a digital computer manned by two operators. The system also has a new high resolution thermal imaging system, a magnetic anomaly detection system, an optical detection system (including laser, TV and thermal channels), gravitational anomaly detector and other equipment.
