Thieves Loot Russia's Top Secret Doomsday Plane
Police in Russia’s southern Rostov region have opened an investigation into the theft of equipment from a top-secret plane intended for use as an airborne command center in the event of nuclear war. The investigation was ordered after equipment worth more than 1 million rubles ($13,600) was stolen from the Il-80 aircraft at a base in Taganrog, local police said in a statement Wednesday.
The incident raises questions about the security of Russian military facilities in a period of renewed tensions with the West ... “Given such a serious incident, of course there will be an investigation and measures will be adopted to prevent this from happening again,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
Radio equipment was discovered missing last week during an inspection of the plane, which was undergoing regular repairs, the Interfax news service reported earlier.
The Il-80 is the first iteration of a modified passenger jet that is meant to be used as a command center by Russian officials, including the president, in the event of nuclear war. The distinctive plane, which has no windows save in the cockpit to protect against nuclear electromagnetic pulses, remains in service currently.
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A google search of the plane pictured in the article identifies it as a Ilyushin Il-80, the plane mentioned in the article.
Here is a photo from Google, same as the plane in the article:
