Thieves broke into a closed airfield, opened a cargo hatch and stole radio equipment from aboard an Ilyushin Il-80 airborne command and control aircraft in Russia’s Rostov region, a representative of the directorate of transport of the Russian ministry of internal affairs has confirmed to Sputnik.

The robbed Il-80, tail number RA-86149, made its first flight in May of 1985. Most other information about the aircraft is highly classified, and the planes rarely appear in public, at airshows, or even Russia’s annual Victory Day parades (one exception being the Victory Parade in Moscow on 9 May, 2010).

The perpetrators are said to have stolen the loot, consisting of radio equipment, while the plane was undergoing maintenance.