Upgrade: Putin’s plane is capable now to trigger underwater Poseidon

MOSCOW ($1=60.52 Russian Rubles) — The Ilyushin Il-80 is a Russian aircraft designed to protect the President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin during a nuclear attack. The Il-80 was designed in the mid-1980s. It is said that only four of this model, based on the Il-86, were produced. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the West first saw the aircraft in the early 1990s.

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Putin’s Il-80 plane has limited cabin windows that can be automatically covered by metal shutters. Experts say this is done to protect the avionics from a possible electromagnetic pulse [EMP] attack. This design is believed to protect the aircraft in the event of a nuclear blast as well. The aircraft has only one door, therefore only one place can be used to attach a mobile airport staircase.

Putin’s plane is also called the “Doomsday”, but this is only one of its four nicknames. The other three are the Maxdome, the Flying Kremlin, and the Camber. On November 16 of this year, Russian media reported that Putin’s plane had received an upgrade.

The water column

These are new capabilities that have not yet been integrated. According to the newly received upgrade, Putin’s “Doomsday” aircraft is now fully capable of communicating with the Russian Navy’s nuclear submarines while they are submerged. This means that from his plane, Putin can trigger the launch of not only ballistic nuclear missiles, but also launch the Poseidon nuclear torpedo.

Russian media reports that these capabilities have already been simulated. Communication and control of underwater nuclear weapons are done by maintaining a regular connection through the water column. The water column is a conceptual column of water from the surface of a sea, river, or lake to the bottom sediment. It is divided into five deep-sea distances, the last of which covers a distance of 4,000 meters to the sea floor. Water columns are used very often to study the environment. Russian media reported that ultra-long waves provided communication between the aircraft and the submerged submarine via an extended submersible communications antenna towed by the submarine.

The modernization of the Flying Kremlin has not started now, therefore the Western economic sanctions against Russia after the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine do not affect the supply. Sources say the necessary integrated circuits, chips, and semiconductors were purchased in 2019-2020. Also, from 2020, work is being done on the modernization of the aircraft, with the state enterprise Ruselectronics having the main participation in it.

Some details

Some details are known about Putin’s Il-80. For example, visible to the naked eye is a large SATCOM canoe lying on the fuselage of the aircraft. Besides integrated various stabilizers, sensors, and communication devices, a very low frequency [VLF] antenna is mounted in the tail of the aircraft.

The last time the world saw the Il-80 of the Russian president was this year, after the start of the war with Ukraine, in April. This was read by the West as a signal that Moscow was ready to use nuclear weapons. The plane was spotted flying over the outskirts of Moscow. However, other analysts claimed that Il-80 pilots were conducting training, preparing the aircraft to participate in the May Victory Parade. However, this aircraft never appeared in the parade, with the Russians explaining that the reason was bad weather conditions.

According to the Russian online publication RIA Novosti, Russia is currently developing two additional Doomsday planes, which are to become the aerial home of other Russian politicians and high-ranking Kremlin officials.

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