Soviet era aircrafts used in some countries:

That's what I mean, using rocket assisted takeoff for just Yak-44. They are planning to upgrade Kuznetsov and still use it a long time so it could be a good choice to put an Awacs. Using Ka-31 for that role is not the best option as it simply look around the carrier, no deep penetration near the combat zone. Plus the radar could be more powerfull, flown higher and designed in L band to see F-22/35 300km away.

Don't underestimate the Ka-31, the army are actually buying versions of it for battlefield surveillance too.

they can fly at up to 5km altitude and have a rather large flat panel radar antenna stowed under its belly that offers a full 360 degree search capacity when deployed.

they would need to spend some money and develop a new model Yak-44 as the original is ancient and most components would now be obsolete.

Having said that a small AWACS that could be used to fill gaps for Russia or could be sold to smaller nations with smaller budgets has huge potential...

Just out of interest if you were in charge of a heavily sanctioned country unable to purchase any military equipment from foreign countries but did have the ability to produce certain types of aircraft although of an older design with limited upgrades AND you only had enough investment to start two types of aircraft which TWO of the following would you choose.


Mig-21BIS, 93.
Su-22M4
Mig-23 MLD, BN, mig-27
Mig-25P, RB

MiG-25 is very specialized, complex and expensive to operate. Better to have bigger numbers of MiG-21 and Su-22 in my opinion, a fighter and an attacker.

My choice would be the same although the mig-21 and mig-23/27 is also a good choice as mig-23 would give another interceptor and ground attack in form of mig-27. For me it's quite a tough choice