Earlier this month, a series of images captured by Airbus’ Pleiades Neo satellite provided insight into North Korea’s progress in equipping its Air Force with an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. While Pyongyang has yet to make an official announcement, this program has shown significant advancements in recent months, as revealed by a comparison of images taken late last year and earlier this year.
So far, with limited details available, only certain aspects of this new project by North Korea’s Armed Forces can be inferred and observed. The most prominent feature is the platform chosen for the airborne early warning and control role—a Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft, which is undergoing conversion work at facilities within Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang.
The Airbus satellite images show that North Korea has made progress in installing the radar radome on the upper fuselage. The specialized website 38 North, which focuses on analyzing events in North Korea, has provided a series of intriguing details suggesting that Pyongyang may be receiving support from Beijing for this project.
The satellite image reveals that the upper part of the radome features a triangular design similar to AEW aircraft operated by China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), a feature not found in comparable platforms used by the United States and Russian Armed Forces. According to 38 North, “In Chinese aircraft, the triangle indicates the placement of three non-rotating phased-array radars arranged to cover 120-degree sectors. This could suggest Chinese support or influence, though the triangle alone does not constitute conclusive evidence.”
As mentioned, the North Korean regime has not officially announced the project, and its development is known only through satellite imagery. It was thanks to such material that the West first became aware of its existence in October 2023, when the arrival of the Il-76 was tracked. This aircraft was previously used by the state airline Air Koryo for cargo transport.
Later that same year, work was confirmed on the upper fuselage section, focusing on structural reinforcement to accommodate the mounts for the aircraft’s new radar radome, which has yet to receive an official designation.
By 2024, the radome was delivered to the Sunan airport facilities, and at the beginning of this month, it was seen installed on the Il-76.
At this time, details regarding the program’s progress remain unclear, particularly concerning the integration of the radome with the rest of the aircraft and the possible timeline for ground and necessary flight tests.
As previously noted, despite the potential Chinese involvement in the program, the configuration chosen by the Chinese Air Force follows the design observed in Soviet/Russian-origin models such as the Beriev A-50 (or Mainstay, as designated by NATO) and the more modern Beriev A-100, both featuring a radome that provides a 160° field of view thanks to a VEGA-family radar.
Lastly, following the hypothesis of China’s involvement in its development, it could be inferred that North Korea aims to acquire airborne early warning and control capabilities similar to those of the PLAAF’s Shaanxi KJ-2000 aircraft. These aircraft, also based on the Il-76 platform, are among the most powerful AEW&C systems in service, boasting a detection range of 470 kilometers thanks to their Type 088 AESA radar.
*Satellite images: 38 North.
