‘Our Most Tracked Flight Now’: How Putin’s ‘Flying Kremlin’ Became World’s Most-Tracked Plane During His Flight To India

Flight Radar 24 reported that the most monitored aircraft in the world earlier today was the aircraft that was carrying the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

Our most followed plane: one of the Russian government planes heading to India. The aircraft tracker posted on X and its site said that Russian President Putin and Indian PM Modi were scheduled to meet during two days in Delhi.

This evening, Putin arrived in New Delhi. He was received at the airport by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The two heads will negotiate on a variety of issues, including defence to trade.

Two planes were seen previously. As one of them switched off its transponder, the other one switched its transponder on, and the procedure was repeated. A transponder transmits aircraft coordinates and other significant flight data to the air traffic controllers.

Being one of the most closely guarded heads globally, Putin hardly goes anywhere without two symbols of the power of the Russian state, his Aurus Senat armoured limo and his highly personalised presidential plane, the Ilyushin IL-96-300PU commonly referred to as the Flying Kremlin.

It is an adaptation of the IL-96-300, a four-engine, long-haul Russian airliner that was designed in the 1980s by the Ilyushin Design Bureau. It was initially flown on 28 September 1988 and put into service in the early 1990s.

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