Quick Take: First Look at North Korea’s Airborne Early Warning Aircraft

North Korea appears close to completing its first airborne early warning aircraft (AEW)—a significant upgrade for an air force that has not seen new airborne capabilities in years.

Commercial satellite imagery shows an Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft parked alongside a maintenance hangar at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport, with a large radome mounted on top of the fuselage.

The radome has a distinctive triangle design on top, similar to what is seen on some Chinese AEW aircraft, but not used on US or Russian aircraft. For Chinese aircraft, the triangle signifies the placement of three non-rotating phased array radars arranged to cover 120-degree sectors. This could indicate support or influence from China, although the triangle alone is not conclusive proof.

Timeline

The aircraft was one of three IL-76s previously used by North Korea’s national airline, Air Koryo, on cargo routes. It was moved into the maintenance facility in October 2023, and almost immediately thereafter a security fence was erected around the aircraft.

In November 2023, work began in a section on top of the fuselage. Conversion to an AEW was suspected, but had not been confirmed until now.

Work continued throughout 2024 and in November the aircraft—without the radome—was moved into the adjacent hangar. It remained there until late February 2025, when it appeared outside the hangar with the radome mounted.

To date, North Korean state media has not disclosed the project.