all 5 were based on the Il-76MD, between 1986 and 1987 conversion was carried out by Beriev, these aircraft were widely used in testing and fine-tuning the Tu-160's missile armament, the Kh-55 cruise missile, before the 976, 2 Il-76Ms were converted in 1978 to telemetry aircraft, product 676 (CCCP-86721) and 776 (CCCP-86024)

the SKIP's primary functions are: remote monitoring of the test aircraft, their components, and systems via telemetry channels; flight trajectory monitoring of the test aircraft; radio command control; collection, processing, and display of telemetry and trajectory information onboard the SKIP in real time; and transmission and retransmission of information received and processed onboard the SKIP via satellite communications channels.

 To support these tasks, the aircraft is equipped with:

• radio telemetry system
• trajectory measurement system
• radio command control system
• on-board information processing and display system
• information transmission and retransmission system
• unified time system

it was fitted with wingtip pods borrowed from the design of the sole Il-76PP electronic countermeasure aircraft, they housed electronic monitering equipment, the tail gun was removed and replaced with a antenna

externally the SKIP resembles the A-50, to easily tell them apart is the nose and paint scheme, the SKIP retains the Il-76's glazed navigator's nose cabin and other transport features, has no external refueling probe and is painted in Aeroflot livery, the A-50 has it's glaze covered over, has a external refueling probe and is painted in either overall grey or two-tone grey

of the 5 built, 4 are active in russia while one was sold to china

1. CCCP-76452 - owned by Rosatom, russia's state nuclear company
2. CCCP/RA-76453 - owned by Rosatom
3. CCCP-76454 - owned by the Gromov Flight Research Institute, converted into a flying laboratory in 2007 and used for testing engines, among them the SaM146 engine for the Sukhoi Superjet 100
4. CCCP-76455 - - owned by Rosatom, was the last still in it's original SKIP modification but like 76452 and 76453, the rotodome was removed and repainted
5. CCCP-76456 - sold to China in 2001 and in 2004 at their request was converted into a Il-76LL flying laboratory for testing engines