“I sit high, I look far away.” Big races…

Chapter 8 How High Can We Fly? We will accomplish the impossible, The power is in our hands. We will not stop, because we must change something in this life. We have a voice, a heart and two hands - And we can do anything. Lyn Rimes. We can. In a nutshell, the answer is: “As high as

Well, the time has come to show what we saw when we climbed to the very top high point Rosa Khutor - to Rosa Peak.
The Rose Peak cable car station is located at an altitude of 2320 m above sea level and even in summer there may still be snow there.
To get to this point you need to use three lifts: “Olympia” (to Rosa Plateau), “Reserved Forest” (there is also Panda Park and the open cable car “Wolf Rock”) and “Caucasian Express”, which will take you to the top.

The first thing beach tourists encounter when they get to Rosa Peak is the cold. Yes, when it’s +25 below, then at the top it can be only +3 and rain and snow. We looked with sympathy at those who climbed up in sundresses and beach slippers, and they looked with envy at our drowning and raincoats with trekking boots. While the freshly frozen tourists were warming up in the toilet (this is the warmest place on Rosa), we calmly spent five hours on the observation deck, not paying attention to the snow, rain and hail that came one after another.
Unfortunately, we were unlucky and for some reason they didn’t tell us downstairs in the information center that the passage from the Peak to the Stone Pillar was closed due to some kind of construction there. On the contrary, the girl who got on the bus and sold tickets for the cable car colorfully described how beautiful it was to walk through the mountains. Then we really wanted to find this girl and tell her a lot tender words..not found((

If you didn’t have time to have a snack on the plateau in “Berlog”, then at the peak there is a restaurant “Vysota”, although the prices there fully correspond to the name ((But at least in the restaurant you can just sit, warm up or relax.

When climbing up, you need to remember well that mountains are mountains and the weather can change in a matter of minutes. Just now there was bright sun and now you already feel like hedgehogs in the fog.

We climbed Rose Peak twice. On the first day we were actually lucky with the weather.
Since the morning clouds have been walking over the mountain tops

Then clouds took their place and the sun even broke through them

And then a running cloud covered the Peak itself and the cable car cabins floated in milk

And here is the same Stone Pillar that we failed to get to

Here it is bigger. Ski slopes are visible along the slope

We manage to catch the hole between the clouds. The mountain Olympic village on Rosa Plateau is clearly visible below

However, our joy is short-lived, the Peak again plunges into the milk of the clouds and we are covered first with rain, and then with hail

While the beachgoers, chattering their teeth, run to warm up, we sit down on the foam pads we brought with us (for some reason there are no benches on the site) and gnaw on cookies and chocolates, waiting for the bad weather to end.
Well, the wait was not in vain. The hail ended and a rainbow lit up over the mountains. It's a pity the tourists didn't see her

We were not pleased with the weather for long. Although the fog in the mountains is also beautiful

Almost local spill Avatar

After five hours of standing, we decide to go downstairs; we want to rest and have lunch. The rain will see us off again

Wonderful weather awaited us below.

Progress in radio electronics has made it possible not only for superpowers to develop new AWACS aircraft; the process has become less expensive – as has the final product. And the air patrols are the most different types began to appear in the air forces of more and more countries.

British attempts - AVRO Shakleton AEW.2, BAe Nimrod AEW.3 and AEW Defender

Oddly enough, Great Britain, once a pioneer in the field of radar technology, made virtually no contribution to this invasion. In addition to the deck-based Gannet, the British presented to the world only the land-based Shakleton AEW.2 - clear evidence of the collapse of the British aircraft industrial complex.

In fact, in the UK, back in the late 1960s, they began studying the possibility of building a basic AWACS aircraft; in 1977, the final decision was made that the base for it would be the BAe Nimrod, an anti-submarine version of the passenger Comet. The issue with the radar was more difficult to solve - various options were offered as installations American systems, as well as developing our own. In order to support the domestic manufacturer, they settled on their own development: two Marconi scanning locators were to be placed in the nose and tail of the aircraft. Other electronic components, including computers, were also supposed to be British-made. The government was not interested in the question of whether the desired result was achievable given the current state of industry - for Labor, preserving jobs was more important...

Labor also loved to save money - and began to write off deck-based Gannets. This did not eliminate the need to have AWACS aircraft in the Air Force, and in 1972 they adopted the Shakleton AEW.2. This combination of an archaic four-engine piston patrol aircraft and the AN/APG-20 radar removed from carrier-based Gannets may have been cheap (especially since long-range reconnaissance aircraft, due to the sharp reduction in British Empire remained mostly out of work), but otherwise it was horror, primarily for the pilots. The fuselage was leaky, unheated, with insufficient sound insulation - a real nightmare. And there would be something to suffer for: in terms of combat characteristics, the aircraft was significantly lower than even the Warning Star, which was obsolete by the early 1970s, and the Soviet Tu-126. But we had to endure, hoping for the imminent appearance of new ultra-modern jet aircraft.

In 1977, flights of the modified “Comet” began with part of the equipment of the future AWACS aircraft, in 1980 the first flight of the experimental “Nimrod” took place, and in 1982 the serial Nimrod AEW.3 appeared. But…

A total of three prototypes and eight production Nimrod AEW.3 were built; they even entered service in 1984, but they were never able to get their electronics fully functional. Ultimately, the program, which had cost taxpayers almost £1.4 billion, was canceled in 1986 and the American E-2D Sentry was ordered to replace the Nimrods.

Another British AWACS aircraft, the AEW Defender, also failed. This was a prompt response to the refusal of the Nimrods: this time, instead of a sophisticated and expensive plane offered small and cheap. The basis for the Defender was the twin-engine nine-seat passenger Britten-Nomad BN-2T Islander, an aircraft with good takeoff and landing characteristics, a turboprop, but with a fixed landing gear. In the nose, where the luggage compartments used to be located, a Torn EMI Skymaster pulse-Doppler radar was installed in a hefty radome, and, oddly enough, this did not particularly affect the flight characteristics. But the characteristics of the radar were not very high, and the fuselage, which housed two pilots and two operators, partially blocked its view, so identifying air targets in the upper hemisphere was possible only in a sector of 280 degrees.

In general, the aircraft turned out to be somewhere at the level of the Gannet, but they already had a competitor in the army - Sea King AEW helicopters. Even though the Skymaster was slightly better than the Searchwater helicopter, and the Defender’s patrol duration reached as much as 9 hours (in the overload version) - but the helicopters could be based on ships of the Royal Navy! There were no foreign customers for this dwarf either, and the plane remained in a single copy.

And while the trial and the case continued, the operation of the Shackletons continued, the last of the 12 vehicles of this type lasted right up to 1991! Not bad for an aircraft and radar developed in the late 1940s, but hardly good for what was once arguably the most powerful aviation industry in the world...

SAAB 100B Argus

The Swedes managed to do what the British failed to do. In general, the aviation industry of this country inspires deep respect - with little defense spending, the Swedes manage to provide themselves with modern combat aircraft (and even export them). And everything is fine with radio electronics. And, most importantly, the ambitions are not excessive.

In the mid-1980s, Ericson began developing the PS-890 Erieye phased array radar with a detection range of 350 kilometers for air and sea targets. The equipment provides almost the same capabilities as the American MESA, but the Swedish product turned out to be the first in the world in its class!

For the purpose of fine-tuning, the Erieye was installed on the Fairchild Metro III in 1987, but the S-100B Argus became the serial Swedish air patrol, in which the carrier is a modification of the native turboprop passenger 33-seat SAAB SF340B Cityliner (developed jointly by Fairchild and SAAB). The first “combat” aircraft was ready in 1994.

The radar on it, like on the Metro, is located in a board-shaped fairing raised on racks above the fuselage, but in order to reduce its drag, it was decided not to place viewing elements in the front and rear hemispheres. Because of this, the antenna does not provide full all-round visibility - although targets can be detected in any direction, they can be tracked only in sectors of 150 degrees on each side. However, this disadvantage can be compensated for by choosing a patrol trajectory, and to correct the deterioration in directional stability caused by the installation of a radar, rather large aerodynamic ridges appeared under the tail of the aircraft, and vortex generators appeared on the wing and stabilizer, improving the flow.

"Argus" is a purely Swedish product, focused primarily on the specific needs of the country's air defense. Sweden has deployed the most modern ground-based air defense control system, StriC-90, and the Argus were supposed to fit seamlessly into it as “high-lying” radar posts. Because of this, the plane's crew consists of only three people - two pilots and a radar specialist. This latter bears full responsibility for the operation of the locator, the real control of which is carried out from the ground, and data about targets and other things is also automatically transmitted there. Guiding fighters is also carried out by ground control centers, where data on the air situation from ground-based radars, AWACS aircraft and Grippen fighters are collected and processed. So, to some extent, this is a return to the days of the TBM-3W, but at a new technological level.

Probably, the lack of operators and associated equipment made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of the Argus, but just in case, it is possible to install up to three operator positions on board, although most of control functions in this case remain with ground services.

In total, the Swedish Air Force ordered six aircraft, but even here the famous Scandinavian practicality had an effect. Radars were installed on four Argus, and on the other two they provided only the possibility of prompt (reportedly within 24 hours) installation of Eriay “for the future.” Thus, if something happens to one of the radar carriers, it will be possible to quickly provide a replacement for it, but for now the “replacement” ones are operated by the Air Force as transport ones - convenient!

Argus for export

However, no matter how well the Argus was adapted to the specific Swedish needs, it was simply necessary to try to sell the expensive AWACS system for export. There were people interested, but here the narrow specialization of the masterpiece of Scandinavian aircraft construction made itself felt: in other countries they wanted a full-fledged aircraft with the ability to control aircraft from the side of the car, and not from the ground.

In some cases, it was necessary to sell radars separately, which was still very profitable, since the electronic filling in such aircraft costs several times more than the carrier. Yes, and mass production passenger aircraft SAAB was ready to fold...

And yet, the “purely Swedish” Argus ended up in other air forces. From 2000 to 2004, two aircraft flew with the designations of the Greek Air Force - while, however, being listed on the balance sheet of the Swedish armed forces. The planes were issued for temporary use to the Greeks so that they could get used to working with the Eriai before other aircraft with the same locator entered service (more on them later). Before being transferred to the Greeks, the Argus equipment was noticeably modified; part of the Swedish equipment was removed from them and NATO equipment was installed, since the open architecture of the vehicle allowed this. Two or three full-fledged camera consoles also appeared on SAABs “on a permanent basis,” which they decided not to dismantle after the planes returned to Sweden. The Scandinavians decided that with this configuration the Argus could be useful for use in various international events not related to Swedish air defense.

Thailand became the second foreign user of Argus, this time on a permanent basis. As part of the military cooperation program, in 2008, this country ordered a batch of aircraft, which, in addition to Grippen fighters, included two SAAB 340s - one transport, and the other AWACS. Thus, Argus went to Thailand as an integral component of a unified air defense system, which included fighters and ground posts with appropriate equipment. Apparently, the equipment of these aircraft is close to the “Greek” aircraft.

The Thais received both SAABs at the end of 2010, and a little earlier they signed another large package of contracts, which included another Argus, which arrived in the country in October 2012.

And in 2009, a contract was signed for the supply of two Argus to the United Arab Emirates - good sales for a specifically Swedish product!

SAAB 2000 Erieye

Meanwhile, the Swedes began to think about changing the carrier for their Eriaev. It would be quite logical to put them on the larger SAAB 2000 (also no longer in production, but available in significant numbers), but no decision has been made yet. But the SAAB 2000-Erieye combination was ordered by Pakistan. The contract for the supply of seven aircraft was signed in 2006, later adjusted downwards to 5 aircraft, the first was transferred to the Pakistanis at the end of 2009, the second in April 2010. As in Sweden, not all planes. and only 4 carry radar, the fifth is a reserve in case of problems with one of the combat ones. Each aircraft is equipped with workstations for five operators.

Embraer R-99A Erieye

But not everyone likes even the SAAB 2000 - but you can only buy a radar! Brazil was the first to acquire Erieye in 1997. The country decided to stop the chaos happening in the vast and essentially uncontrolled expanses of the Amazon by providing its air force with specialized patrol aircraft and AWACS aircraft under the SIVAM program. There were no problems with the carrier - Embraer just produces the suitable ERJ-145. It is larger and faster than the SAAB, and the aircraft based on it, called the R-99A, was originally planned as a full-fledged AWACS aircraft with the ability to control air combat and other things.

The first flight of the R-99A took place in 1999; the first of five ordered aircraft entered service with the Brazilian Air Force in 2002, and the last in 2003. The R-99A differs from the original airliner in the presence of a radar antenna above the fuselage and additional vertical fins on the horizontal tail and under the rear fuselage. A typical crew consists of five people - two pilots and three operators, but there is space on board for a second camera shift. There is no in-flight refueling equipment on the R-99A, but the capacity of its fuel tanks is increased compared to the passenger version.

At the end of 2003, the first of four R-99A ordered in 1999 was received by the Greeks who had previously trained on the Argus, and by mid-2005 their order was completed. By this time (in 2004), another export R-99A was manufactured, this time for Mexico, which decided to supplement the fleet of its “anti-drug” Hawkeyes with Embraers. At the same time, the Mexicans also acquired a patrol version of the ERJ-145, known as the P-99, and these Embraers work in conjunction with the remaining only one R-99, similar to the American customs Orions.

Embraer R-99A DRDO

The fourth customer of the R-99A (redesignated E-99 by the Brazilian Air Force in 2008) was India, but the Swedes received nothing from this deal. After all, the Indians chose a Brazilian aircraft as a carrier for their own phased array radar, developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The radar is not ready yet, its actual characteristics are unknown, but, apparently, they will be close to the Swedish Eriai, as well as the layout and dimensions of the antenna.

India's desire to develop its own locator for AWACS aircraft was not born yesterday. Back in 1985, Project Guardian (later renamed Airawat) was launched, under which DRDO (with the assistance of Israel's Elbit) created a radar intended for installation on the Il-76. The rotating radar antenna was supposed to be placed, as on the A-50, in a dish with a diameter of 7.3 meters, raised above the fuselage on a pylon, but to save money, the Indians decided to use English aircraft Hawker Siddeley HS.748 Andover, produced in India under license, for experiments with the radar like HAL-748. No sooner said than done: the first flight of the HS.748 AEW took place in 1990, followed by two more of the same aircraft.

It cannot be said that the choice was successful: the twin-engine turboprop aircraft was much smaller than the Il-76, and the presence of a high fin on it forced the radar dish to be placed on an even higher pylon. The experiments ended badly - in 1999, one plane crashed, and it was reported that the disaster was partly caused by excessive loads on the structure and deterioration in controllability after the installation of the radar. As a result, the program was terminated, and the Indians decided to purchase the A-50 with Israeli radars. In addition to them, the R-99, or more precisely the EMB-145, was chosen, since the Indian-ordered aircraft are noticeably different from their Brazilian counterpart. And not only radar: the plane is equipped with a satellite communication system (antenna in a blister on top of the fuselage), an in-flight refueling system, and so on.

The first aircraft was flown in late 2011, but without much of the equipment, which is expected to be installed in the first half of this year, with flight testing beginning before the end of the year. A total of three aircraft have been ordered, but perhaps these are only the first signs - India needs two dozen aircraft of this class, and it has not yet been able to develop its own carrier.

Boeing EB-707 Condor

Israel did not have its own carrier, but this did not prevent it from developing a phased array radar suitable for installation on an aircraft in the late 1980s, in parallel with the Swedes. As part of the IAI, ELTA Electronics managed to create the EL/M-2075 Phalcon radar, which in many respects is superior even to similar American developments. The air detection range reaches 350 kilometers (according to other sources - up to 500), and this is quite enough for the tactical AWACS aircraft that Israel wanted to receive instead of the imported Hokai.

However, the Israelis started with the “not quite tactical” Boeing 707. Unlike the American E-3 at the same base, the IAI-converted aircraft (known as the EB-707) looked different. Instead of a pancake above the fuselage, huge panels of side-view antennas appeared on the sides, and the front and rear sectors were visible through the antennas in a voluminous nose fairing hanging down. After this, the Boeing looks somewhat strange, but its radar system provides all-round visibility.

Work on EB-707 began in 1990 and. characteristically, it was created exclusively for export: the only aircraft was converted from an aircraft previously owned by LanChile airlines and transferred to the Chilean Air Force in 1995. The device was named Condor and is still flying today, although in a single copy.

Ilyushin-Beriev A-50I/EI

Having shown with the example of the Condor that the Falcon really works, the Israelis began to cast bait for the sale of their product with installation on almost any type of aircraft. As you might guess, the “bites” primarily came from states that have difficulties in relations with the United States.

The first was China, for which in 1997 the Israelis contracted to make an AWACS aircraft, teaming up with Russia, which supplied the carrier - the A-50. In Russia, the carrier was named A-50I; in 1999, it arrived in Israel, where the EL/W-2090 radar was installed on it. It was also placed in a “pancake”, but with a larger (12 m) diameter. It did not rotate, and inside there were three Falcon antennas in a “triangle”, providing all-round visibility. Testing of the system was quite successful, but in 2001, under US pressure, Israel was forced to terminate the contract.

But with India everything worked out. In 2004, the Israelis agreed with the Indians on the sale of three Falcon EL/M-2090 systems, and the Indians with Russia on the purchase of three A-50s without the “stuffing”. In Russia, this was presented as a commercial success, but the Indians, like the Chinese, refused the domestic radar - even despite the fact that in 2000 a pair of fully equipped A-50s were transferred for temporary use to the Indian Air Force. The attempt to link the supply of aircraft with purchases and the Shmel radar aroused the active displeasure of the Indians, who threatened that they could order a carrier for the Falcon in Europe, based on the A310 (Airbus has long offered its aircraft for the installation of the radar). I had to come to terms...

The planes were not built in Russia, but in Tashkent; there was a long delay in their delivery, and the first A-50EI, arriving from Israel, was met in India only at the end of May 2009. The “Indian” differs from the Russian A-50 not only in its radar equipment (by the way, compared to the Chinese machine, it managed to fit the antennas into a “dish” with a diameter of only 11 meters), but also in engines: instead of the D-30 there are more advanced PS- 90. Currently, there are two aircraft in India, the third continues to be tested in Israel, since, at the request of the buyer, newer electronic equipment was installed on it.

In 2010, India expressed its intention to buy two more carriers from Russia, but negotiations on this matter do not seem to have ended with anything concrete.

IAI Eitam

And the Israelis, having gained experience on large aircraft, were ripe for adapting the Falcon into a small tactical aircraft for the needs of their own Air Force to replace the American Hawkeyes. The basis for the machine, called Eitam, was the Gulfstream G550 business jet - and this is not surprising, since IAI has close ties with Gulf Stream. The once elegant car was decorated with huge fairings on the sides, in which the antennas of the EL/W-2085 complex were hidden - latest version"Falcona". Additional antennas are located in the nose and tail fairings, which gives the radar a full all-round view.

The first Eitam entered service with the Israeli Air Force in 2008, and now there are five aircraft, some of which have an upgraded radar system.

As soon as it appeared, Eitam attracted the attention of foreign customers. In 2007, Singapore placed an order for four aircraft, the first of which, taken from the Israeli Air Force, was delivered to the customer in 2008.

The price of Eitam is about 350-375 million dollars apiece, which is very expensive - for comparison, Argus costs about 110 million. But sometimes it’s not about the money – and that’s how things seem to be going with Italy’s acquisition of Eytamov. The country has been choosing an AWACS aircraft for a long time, but after Israel chose the Italian M-346 as its future training aircraft, the Italians need to give something back to their partner. Reportedly, a contract for two Eytams will be signed - but no decision has been made yet.

"Eyes of Saddam": Baghdad-1 and Adnan

One of Israel's main enemies. Iraq also at one time tried to obtain an AWACS aircraft. Although this happened even before the capture of Kuwait, Hussein knew that the Americans would not sell him AWACS systems, and the USSR, with which Iraq had very warm relations, did not have any for sale. Moreover, Iraq had neither its own carrier, nor radar, nor the technical ability to develop either one or the other. But if you really want...

It was decided to build an air command post from what was available. There were transport Il-76MD, supplied by the USSR, and French ground-based radars Thompson-CSF “Tiger-G”, produced under license as Salahuddin G. Thompson-CSF was chosen as the project integrator; the aircraft’s equipment included equipment from other foreign companies, for example Rockwell-Collins, Selenia and Marconi. The French did not really believe in the success of the project, but a machine called Baghdad-1 nevertheless appeared in 1988. The radar antenna was mounted upside down in a large fairing at the tail of the aircraft and, in theory, gave a detection range of air targets of 350 kilometers. But in reality, it turned out that it was impossible to simply install a radar on an airplane: a working radar would heat up the airplane greatly, so after an hour and a half it was no longer possible to be at the operators’ workplaces...

But the Iraqis did not calm down, and based on the Il-76 they produced another AWACS aircraft, called Adnan. They also had a Saladdin, but its antenna was mounted in a pancake-shaped radome, so it was very similar to the Soviet A-50. It is unlikely that this would have happened completely without the help of the USSR, and the result seemed to be more acceptable: at least three Adnans were made.

These planes did not bring any benefit to Iraq: one Adnan was destroyed on the ground by multinational forces during Desert Storm, the rest and the Baghdad flew to Iran, where they are still located.

The Iranians are currently rumored to be operating one Adnan, while the second is undergoing repairs and modernization. The country is also making attempts to create its own AWACS aircraft based on the licensed An-140, but since no one can or wants to sell such a radar to the Iranians, and they themselves cannot develop it, this desire will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Xian KJ-1

But the development program for AWACS aircraft in China is proceeding at a crazy pace, and the number of types in the Middle Kingdom is greater than in any other country in the world. But you can guess how much Chinese there is in them.

The first Chinese attempt to develop AWACS aircraft, back in the 1960s, resulted in the construction of two Xian KJ-1 aircraft. The radar located in the “dish” above the fuselage was Soviet, and it housed the Liana radar, similar to the one on the Tu-126. And the medium... This one was generally “a copy of a copy with the addition of another copy.” It was called the Xian AP-1, and was a turboprop version of the Soviet Tu-4, which, in turn, was a remake of the American B-29, and the engines were “ripped off” from the An-12. How they managed to place not only electronic equipment, but also operators on board the AP-1 is unclear, but apparently with great difficulty, and the leadership of the Chinese Air Force had to admit that the KJ-1 was not of much use.

KJ-2000

The main problem in the development of the KJ-1 was that no one sold China modern aircraft for this purpose and equipment for them, because, as you know, the main driving force China's progress is the import (legal and otherwise) of foreign technology. Further history AWACS aircraft provide additional confirmation of this.

As soon as it became possible, China began negotiations with Russia on the acquisition of the A-50 (as a completely modern carrier), and with an Israeli radar (the Soviet one was already “yesterday”). The program ended with the delivery in 2002 of one aircraft without a radar, which became a model for similar modifications to the conventional Il-76MD, delivered to China in the mid-1990s. Fortunately, the Chinese had little need for the Il-76, and they did not organize their own production of the carrier. But they now have a phased array radar, either a modification of the Israeli one, or a modification of a previously developed Chinese shipborne radar, but it was clearly not born out of nowhere.

Already in 2003, the first flight of the resulting KJ-2000 aircraft took place; to date, probably 5 have been built. The Chinese need more, but they do not want to re-equip their remaining Il-76 transport vehicles, and are negotiating with Russia to purchase additional carriers.

Y-8AEW/KJ-200

The largest carrier produced in China is the Y-8, a copy of the An-12. The first attempt to turn it into an AWACS aircraft dates back to 1996, when the Chinese bought eight Skymaster radars developed in the mid-1970s (the same ones that were on the AEW Defender) from England. Radars were installed in the nose of the Y-8, turning it into the Y-8J, aka Y-8AEW. It turned out better than with the Defender, since there is enough space on board the four-engine transporter for electronics, for the crew, and for fuel, so the plane can hang in the air for up to 11 hours.

The first two aircraft entered service by 2002, but work was already underway on a more advanced modification - the KJ-200. This time the radar installation is a complete copy of the Swedish Erieye (there may also be an analogue of this product inside), but there are additional antennas in the nose and tail, so it is likely that full all-round visibility is provided. The first flight of the prototype took place in 2001, based on the Y-8F-600 with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150B engines and Honeywell avionics. They say that these machines, together with the KJ-2000, should make up unified system, in which the KJ-200 will serve as forward radar pickets, and information will be processed and controlled on board the KJ-2000.

The exact number of aircraft produced is unknown, but China has already begun producing AWACS aircraft for export. The first customer was, as you might guess, Pakistan, which ordered four ZDK-03 aircraft from China for only $278 million. The carrier here is the same Y-8F600, but this time the antenna is placed in a “pancake” above the fuselage of the aircraft. What kind of radar there is and what its characteristics are is not reported, but it seems to be also a device with a phased array, a smaller version of what is on the KJ-2000.

The Pakistanis received the first aircraft at the end of 2010, the second at the end of 2011. It’s hard to say whether there will still be customers for Chinese planes; after all, the thing is quite expensive. But the fact itself suggests that in our time, almost any country that has the money and desire can acquire AWACS aircraft. But progress does not stand still - in the same States, the development of very special carriers and very specific radars is already underway...

An international team of scientists has discovered perennial herbs growing at an altitude of over six kilometers in the Himalayas in India. These are the highest altitude vascular plants (containing tissues through which water and nutrients move) discovered so far. The study was published in Microbial Ecology.

Since about the 1970s, the average temperature at the Earth's surface has been steadily increasing. Scientists say the main cause of global warming is human activity, due to which the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases. 2016 is likely to be the hottest year in the history of meteorological observations, which have been conducted since 1880 throughout the entire territory of our planet - every month of the outgoing year broke temperature records (,). Following an increase in temperature, the level of the world's oceans rises, Arctic and Antarctic glaciers melt, ocean waters become acidified, whole biological species. For the same reason, high-mountain glaciers are melting - and plants are migrating to lands freed from snow.

Let's look at some of the existing altitudinal zones in the Himalayas. At an altitude of about 2000 meters, the mountain-forest belt begins, where deciduous trees grow, and higher, at approximately 2500 meters, they are replaced by coniferous species, including Himalayan pines and cedars. At an altitude of 3500-4000 meters the mountain-tundra belt begins; Dwarf shrubs, alpine grasses, as well as mosses and lichens grow here. These altitudes are characterized by long, harsh winters and cold summers, with average monthly temperatures not exceeding eight degrees Celsius. At an altitude of approximately 4500-5000 meters on the southern side of the mountain range and from 5700-6000 meters on its northern side, the border of eternal snow, or nival belt, begins. Here, in areas free of snow and ice, a few lichens and algae grow that can withstand low temperatures, lack of moisture and strong winds.

The northeastern Himalayas in the Ladakh region of India are characterized by low temperatures and low rainfall. Since the 1990s, temperatures began to rise here, which was accompanied by the melting of glaciers, and in the last decade, summers have become rainier and the duration of the growing season has increased - the time when plant growth and development is possible. In Ladakh it lasts from 80 to 90 days in different years from mid-May to mid-September; At this time, the average daily temperature rises above zero degrees Celsius.

In this region, near the top of Mount Shukule II at an altitude of 6150 meters, a group of European biologists discovered a small clearing in which six species of vascular plants grew ( Draba alshehbazii, Draba altaica, Ladakiella klimesii, Poa attenuata, Saussurea gnaphalodes and Waldheimia tridactylites). The discovery was made in 2012. All the plants found by the authors of the article belong to perennial herbs that grow at an altitude of 3000 meters, but this is the first time they have been discovered so high. All are known to produce large quantities of wind-dispersed seeds. The scientists examined the chemical and bacterial composition of the soil in which the grasses grew, and also determined the age of four of the six types of grasses.

Plants discovered at an altitude of 6150 meters.

R. Angel et al. / Microbial Ecology, 2016

It turned out that three types of grass have been growing in this place for less than 10 years, and the age of plants of the fourth type is Ladakiella klimesii, - about 15 years. Scientists have suggested that, despite the rather long growing season, plants in this area can only actively develop during 12-17 days a year, when the average daily temperature rises above five degrees Celsius. In the root system of the newly discovered herbs, researchers discovered diazotrophic bacteria that are capable of absorbing nitrogen vital for plants from the atmosphere and enriching the soil with it.
The authors of the work suggest that six kilometers is not the limit for alpine plants; Further increases in temperature will cause glaciers to melt and the snow line to retreat, so in the future scientists have the chance to discover vascular plants at even higher altitudes.

Once upon a time there lived a grandfather and a grandmother.
They had a granddaughter Mashenka.
Once Mashenka’s friends invited her to pick mushrooms in the forest. Grandmother and grandfather let their granddaughter go into the forest:
“Go, just make sure you don’t lag behind your friends, otherwise you’ll get lost,” they told Mashenka.

The girls came to the forest and began picking mushrooms and berries.
Here Mashenka - tree by tree, bush by bush - and went far, far away from her friends.
She started calling around and calling them. But my girlfriends don’t hear, they don’t respond.
She came to the very wilderness, to the very thicket.
He sees a hut standing there. Mashenka knocked on the door - no answer. She pushed the door, the door opened.
Mashenka entered the hut and sat down on a bench by the window.

She sat down and thought: “Who lives here?” Why is no one visible?.."
And in that hut lived a huge bear. Only he wasn’t at home then: he was walking through the forest.
The bear returned in the evening, saw Mashenka, and was delighted.
“Yeah,” he says, “now I won’t let you go!” You will live with me. You will light the stove, cook porridge, and feed me porridge.

Masha pushed, grieved, but nothing could be done.
She began to live with the bear in the hut. The bear goes into the forest for the whole day, and Mashenka is told not to leave the hut without him.
“And if you leave,” he says, “I’ll catch you anyway and then I’ll eat you!”
Mashenka began to think about how she could escape from the bear. She thought and thought and came up with an idea.

One day a bear comes from the forest, and Mashenka says to him:
- Bear, bear, let me go to the village for a day: I’ll bring some gifts to grandma and grandpa.
“No,” says the bear, “you will get lost in the forest.” Give me some gifts, I'll take them myself! And that’s exactly what Mashenka needs!
She baked pies, took out a large box and said to the bear:
- Here, look: I’ll put the pies in a box, and you take them to grandpa and grandma. Yes, remember: don’t open the box on the way, don’t take out the pies. I’ll climb up the oak tree and keep an eye on you!

Okay,” the bear answers, “give me the box!” Mashenka says:
- Go out onto the porch and see if it’s raining!
As soon as the bear came out onto the porch, Mashenka immediately climbed into the box and placed a plate of pies on her head.
The bear returned and saw that the box was ready. He put him on his back and went to the village.
A bear walks between fir trees, a bear wanders between birch trees, goes down into ravines, and up hills. He walked and walked, got tired and said:
I’ll sit on a tree stump and eat a pie!

And Mashenka from the box:

I sit high - I look far away
Don't sit on the tree stump, don't eat the pie!
Bring it to grandma, bring it to grandpa!

Look, she’s so big-eyed,” says the bear, “she sees everything!” He picked up the box and moved on.
He came to the village, found Mashenkin’s house, and his grandfather and grandmother met him:
“I brought you some gifts from Mashenka,” says the bear.

And the dogs sensed the bear and rushed at him. They run and bark from all the yards.
The bear got scared, put down the box and ran into the forest without looking back.
Grandfather and grandmother came up to the box, opened the lid, and there was Mashenka!
That was joy!