Experimental A-60 Laser Weapon Carrier Struck in Taganrog

During a night attack on November 25, the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Russian A-60 aircraft – a flying laboratory for testing laser weapons – in Taganrog.

The Exilenova+ Telegram channel published the video.

According to video and photos from local witnesses, the target of the Ukrainian strike was the G. M. Beriev Aviation Scientific and Technical Facility and the Taganrog-South airbase, which serves as the company’s main test base.

The Beriev Aviation Plant specializes in the development, serial production, modernization, and repair of amphibious aircraft and special-purpose aviation complexes, including the A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft.

The plant also performs major repairs on aircraft for the Russian Navy aviation and modernizes Tu-95MSM strategic bomber-missile carriers. The enterprise is part of the JSC United Aircraft Corporation of the Russian state corporation Rostec.

Analyzing one of the attack videos, observers concluded that during the strike, the Soviet/Russian A-60 flying laboratory with registration number RA-86879, based on the Il-76MD military transport aircraft, was hit and possibly completely destroyed.

The aircraft became the carrier of an aviation version of a megawatt laser, planned for deployment in space as the 17F19D Scyth-D. To accommodate the laser system, the Il-76’s base design underwent significant modifications.

During the project, only two experimental samples of this system were built in the USSR.

The struck A-60 had been stationary for many years at the Taganrog-South airbase.

Additionally, as noted by Exilenova+, during today’s attack, a hangar at the aviation plant used for the maintenance and modernization of Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers into the Tu-95MSM version was hit. These bombers are capable of carrying more Kh-101 cruise missiles, which the occupiers use to strike Ukraine.

Ukrainian drones also launched a massive attack on Russia’s Krasnodar region during the night, with targets including Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Gelendzhik.

It was also reported that simultaneously with the drone attack in Novorossiysk, a voice alert was triggered about “other types of emergencies.” Local authorities claimed that this occurred due to “unauthorized interference with the city’s alert system.”