“Espionage breakthrough” – This is the Russian military plane that was turned over in front of Helsinki – 2024-02-28 23:07:18

The Il-20M reconnaissance plane was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. AOP

The German and French air forces announced that they encountered and tracked a Russian military plane in the Baltic Sea on Monday. The German Air Force said in its press release that the encounter took place on Monday southeast of Helsinki.

The Russian plane in question was a reconnaissance plane IL-20M or Ilyushin-20, to which NATO has given the code name COOT-A. The IL-20M is a highly advanced reconnaissance aircraft, which has been compared in terms of performance to the world’s best reconnaissance aircraft, the Boeing-RC-135.

Espionage Breakthrough

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union made efforts to develop espionage, and the Ilyushin-20 plane was considered a breakthrough in that field.

There are three models of the plane, which are civilian versions of the IL-18 passenger and transport plane. The IL-20 is the basic version from which the IL-20M, an ELINT aircraft equipped for reconnaissance purposes, was developed. Il-20RT telemetry aircraft, which at one time supported Soviet space activities.

ELINT machines focus on detecting, analyzing and locating passive radar and navigation signals or other electronic transmissions. With the help of satellites, the machine is able to transmit information in real time also to intelligence workers working on the ground. NATO uses the code name COOT-A for the IL-20M.

In addition to Russia, civilian versions are in use in North Korea. Today, only Russia operates military aircraft. The first flight of IL-20 machines took place in 1968.

The plane can accommodate 20 people and has seats for six radio system operators. The machine is approximately 36 meters long and over 10 meters high. When empty, it weighs 35,000 kilograms, when it takes off, the upper limit of the total weight of the plane is 65,000 kilograms. At its fastest, the plane travels 675 kilometers per hour.

In recent years, the German air force has been tracking the type of aircraft in question over the Baltic Sea on several occasions. Germany detected an IL-20M plane with its radar beacon turned off in international airspace between Kaliningrad and Russia also in November 2022. German fighter jets took off from Estonia at that time. About a year ago in January, the German Air Force spotted an IL-20M plane again in the Baltic Sea.

Later in the spring of 2023, the German and British air forces again followed the Russian planes in the Baltic Sea. One of the planes was an IL-20M reconnaissance plane believed to be monitoring the Aurora 23 military exercises. It was Sweden’s largest military exercise in 25 years, and 13 other countries, including Finland, also participated in the exercises.