Intelligence and guidance: Russia got a rare M-55 "Geophysics" aircraft from the pantry (photo)

As reported on November 5, Defense Express observers, such a decision of the military command of the Russian Federation may be related to the work on working out interaction with the tactical Aviation of the PCS or with intelligence before drawing rocket strikes. The authors of the material paid attention to a special container located under the wing of the aircraft. It is likely that it contains special equipment for radio intelligence.

At the same time, for the first time, such a container was observed at the Su-34 fighter during the exercises of the Russian Army "West-2021". The publication emphasizes that the M-55 "Geophysics" was developed in the Soviet era as a high-rise intelligence officer for drawing rocket strokes, in particular the missile complex "Oka", which is the predecessor of OTRC "Iskander". At the same time, the first flight M-55 was made in the West of the Soviet era in 1988.

It is known that in total, five such aircraft were built, which were later used to study the stratosphere in the European part of the Russian Federation. The aircraft was also involved in a series of scientific experiments during which scientists studied the ozone hole over the Arctic, gravitational waves and polar stratosphere clouds.

The M-55 spent 45 hours in the air, receiving with the help of the equipment installed on board unique data on the composition and structure of the lower stratosphere. In 2017, it became known that M-55 aircraft were preserved due to the lack of profile orders. M-55 "Geophysics" is able to raise up to 20 km 2 tons of different equipment, which makes it attractive to intelligence missions.