Il-76/476 Military Transports

TMA1 wrote:Notice limb did not like the comment above. Just after posting doom porn. Note a few others popped up a few days back seemingly in coordination with those drone strikes complaining, a couple calling for Putin's removal for it at the same time??
Bizarre. I'm telling you some here actually want the overthrow of Russia by the neocon/neolib factions.

Is it really a surprise? $800 Billion can buy you a lot of paid online trolls.

It is ironic that they openly talk about the funding they spend on propaganda but they accuse any independent thinker on the internet that does not agree with their obvious BS of being a paid troll... hilarious.

I personally think the An-12 was widely used and very popular and a replacement type can be two aircraft with slightly different performance and dimensions.

if need be, they could buy some Y-9s from China as a stopgap measure, & concentrate on the IL-476 production.
If they had more time & $, I'm sure some IL-476 variants would have wider & longer fuselage as an added value, which also would compete better with Western aircraft.
Perhaps such versions will eventuially appear before IL-106 design is finalized, not to mention the Slon, An-124 replacement.

TMA1 wrote:Notice limb did not like the comment above. Just after posting doom porn. Note a few others popped up a few days back seemingly in coordination with those drone strikes complaining, a couple calling for Putin's removal for it at the same time??
Bizarre. I'm telling you some here actually want the overthrow of Russia by the neocon/neolib factions.

"Plans" and "built" aren't the same thing. Also each Il-76 needs like 10-16months of quality control flight tests.

No T-tail. Those aircraft look like An-124s.

- On October 9, the fourth Il-76MD-90A aircraft of the 2023 production program made its first flight in Ulyanovsk.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4764168.html

will we see 8 new aircraft in 2024?

Yeah they absolutely need to have more trained personnel in all russian large aircraft plants.

I believe at the moment the one with the best outlook concerning personnel (and pay) and future workloads are Irkusk (MC-21 in the civilian side and su-30 in the military side) and Konsomolsk on Amur (SJ-100 on the civilian side but which have not been produced last year while waiting for the certification of the russian used version) and su-35/su-57 on the military side.

Kazan plants also need a lot of new personnel (and I believe it has been planned), and the same thing is true for Aviastar (Ulyanovsk) and VASO (Voronezh).

I do not know what is currently the situation concerning the amount of personnel. I just know that in the past 10 years irkusk incremented a lot the number of employees and Ilyushin also said that many of the promising people that they had (but this was about 10 years ago) preferred to leave after learning the job and go to Irkusk, because of much better pay. 

Probably this was true not only for Ilyushin, but for VASO and partially for Aviastar as well.

Anyway if I am not mistaken Aviastar was created in the 70s to be the largest aviation factory in soviet union. Someone even mentioned the plan to have engine assembly lines in new building in the area belonging to Aviastar (then cancelled after 1991).

I have only a question. My understanding is that the il-76 production has been organised in the facilities previously prepared for the (cancelled) Tu-204SM production. Is that correct?

If so does it mean that An-124 and il-76 could be produced at Aviastar in parallel, without limiting rsch other (as long as new personnel is recruited and trained)?

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:I have only a question. My understanding is that the il-76 production has been organised in the facilities previously prepared for the (cancelled) Tu-204SM production. Is that correct?

If so does it mean that An-124 and il-76 could be produced at Aviastar in parallel, without limiting rsch other (as long as new personnel is recruited and trained)?

Yes. This is what I get from what I have read. They have separate production lines for both aircraft.

Now they can make all the parts for the D-18T engines I would think for now they would focus on getting all the planes in storage back into service and all their avionics and systems upgraded and improved (ie old and foreign equipment removed and replaced with new Russian equipment).

By the time they get that done I would think the PD-35 should have a few samples made to get an An-22 replacement type flying and testing, which I think would be a higher priority than putting further An-124s into production... because eventually the Il-106 and Slon will make the An-124 a little redundant so spending money making more now wont be money well spent, whereas Il-106s will be cheaper to operate and could be built in large numbers and widely used... it would be a Russian equivalent to the C-17 but better and likely much cheaper.

Later on a four engined Slon can do all the heavier stuff the An-124 used to do.

I would like to see them further expand Il-476 production and add Il-276 production too.

GarryB wrote:Now they can make all the parts for the D-18T engines I would think for now they would focus on getting all the planes in storage back into service and all their avionics and systems upgraded and improved (ie old and foreign equipment removed and replaced with new Russian equipment).

By the time they get that done I would think the PD-35 should have a few samples made to get an An-22 replacement type flying and testing, which I think would be a higher priority than putting further An-124s into production... because eventually the Il-106 and Slon will make the An-124 a little redundant so spending money making more now wont be money well spent, whereas Il-106s will be cheaper to operate and could be built in large numbers and widely used... it would be a Russian equivalent to the C-17 but better and likely much cheaper.

Later on a four engined Slon can do all the heavier stuff the An-124 used to do.

I would like to see them further expand Il-476 production and add Il-276 production too.

I am not sure the Il-76 internal volume dimensions is the best fit for the new tracked weapons under development.

william.boutros wrote:I am not sure the Il-76 internal volume dimensions is the best fit for the new tracked weapons under development.

I totally agree. Il-76 is a good plane, but it is limited to about 3.4 m of width on the cargo area.
All new planned aircrafts above 30 tons of payload designed after the 1980s had a wider cargo bay (like the 4m of both the An-70 and Tu-330).

It was great to  restart production of the il76 in the modernised version, but I see it more of a stopgap and I do not believe it makes much sense to develop the il-276 if the only reason is commonality with the il-76.

In comparison to the il-76 the An-124 has more potential of improvement.

Actually what I would like as the eventual il76 replacement would be an aircraft similar to the Chinese y-20 (or to the proposed jet powered version of the An-70), maybe with 2 engines with about 24 to 28 tons of thrust at takeoff rating each.

And for larger loads the il-106 with a cargo bay of about 6 m and 80 tons of max payload.

The IL-76 is the workhorse. For heavy wider hardware, the AN-124 ja can be used. The next logical step would be to make a new contract with a term of 5 years and 7 or 8 new IL-76s with PS 90A engines per year. From 2029 there should be an IL-76 in are-improved version. Also with 4x PD-14M engines. I do not think anything of exchanging the only aircraft program in significant quantities per year with this size for dreams.

From 2029, monthly ones should roll at least one such IL-76PD14 off the assembly line. This makes 12 a year and would come to about the rate of Y-20 per year. This should be the most important goal in the field of air transportation of Russia. Exactly the same for the Tu-214. Also here, from 2029, please with PD-14M and please one every month!
Here, too, there may be a wing, as on the IL-76, made of composite materials and many other improvements.

Not always build castles in the air. Take proven and continuously improve. See Airbus.

bmpd says 6 Il-476s were delivered by UAC in 2023

(Photos of the sixth aircraft transferred to the Russian Aerospace Forces have not yet been published)

In 2023, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) handed over to the Ministry of Defense six military transport Il-76s assembled at a plant in Ulyanovsk, with plans to increase production to 18 aircraft per year, UAC General Director Yuri Slyusar said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

“The Ministry of Defense will need a huge number of these aircraft in the coming years. The production plan is to reach at least 18 aircraft per year in Ulyanovsk, six were delivered this year, this is worth a lot,” Slyusar said. According to him, the Il-76 is the main vehicle providing logistics and cargo delivery during the special operation. Slyusar recalled that these machines were previously held in Tashkent. Those aircraft that are assembled in Ulyanovsk received 70 new systems, new engines and new avionics.

The general director of the UAC praised the plant in Ulyanovsk for six Il-76s, because before that it practically did not produce serial equipment. “It was important for him to get up to speed, to join the team again, the family of serial factories... Delivering six cars this year in the interests of the Ministry of Defense is a lot of work, we thank them very much for this,” Slyusar added.


From the bmpd side, we point out that in this way the Russian Aerospace Forces was transferred (according to available information, on December 24) the sixth military transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A built in 2023 at the branch of Il PJSC - Aviastar (as part of the UAC) in Ulyanovsk, which has the presumptive registration number RF-78673. According to known data, it was rolled out in Ulyanovsk on November 26, 2023 and made its first flight on December 3. This is the 24th aircraft of this type (including prototype) built.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4790788.html

Flow on the line: optimizations and improvements for the growth of transport aircraft production
January 17, 2024

The Ulyanovsk Aviastar aircraft Factory (a branch of the Il company) has a significant potential for increasing serial production. There is a steady demand from both Russian agencies and foreign customers for the company's main products – IL-76 family aircraft.

For the serial production of airliners at Aviastar, many serious changes have been made. To increase the volume of production, it was necessary to make a "major overhaul" of the entire line of its assembly, as well as control and auxiliary business processes. The primary action necessary for the organization of in-line production was the alignment of aggregate and assembly production along the flow. Today, the plant's production line is a conveyor where the compartments and aggregates of the IL-76MD-90A heavy transport vehicle are assembled.

The efficiency of this pipeline is constantly improving. Projects are being implemented to improve the operation of its various sections. One of them was the project "Reduction of assembly cycles of IL-76MD-90A product units on the example of the OCK". Points are detachable parts of the wing, they are also called wing planes, points are attached to the center section. Thanks to the implementation of the project, the assembly cycle of the OCC was reduced by 46 %. This result was appreciated: the project was recognized as the winner of the competition to improve the UAC production system. The team that implemented the project, led by Artur Gimaev, head of the Aviastar wing Assembly and Mechanization shop, was awarded the highest award of the competition – the UAC Rolling Cup.

Ulyanovsk Transport Worker

The project of organizing serial production of Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft and their modifications in Ulyanovsk is important for the country, but quite complex. In Soviet times, previous versions of these airliners were assembled in Tashkent. After the collapse of the USSR, production there was curtailed. A natural decision was made at the level of the state leadership to transfer production of the IL-76 to the territory of Russia. Aviastar Ulyanovsk, where the world's largest mass-produced An-124 transport aircraft were previously assembled, was chosen as the serial plant.

However, the Ilov production project had to be built into the workshops where other production programs were being implemented at that time – An-124 aircraft were being repaired, and passenger Tu-204 aircraft were being mass-produced. This reason did not allow us to immediately organize a site for assembling the IL-76 according to the most rational scheme. It was still possible to produce experimental and first production cars. But when the company received the first major contract for a new transport vehicle from the state customer, the issue of increasing production rates became acute.

At the head of the corner is a worker
The fundamental principle used in all Aviastar production transformations is that the only person who adds value to the aircraft produced at the factory is the worker. When making any decisions related to production – this principle is at the forefront!

In order to increase productivity, a program of technical re-equipment and modernization of production was carried out. The designs of assembly devices and their elements have been improved, and the production facility is equipped with modern stands, equipment and tools. In parallel with technical re-equipment, the company is working to improve the quality of its products, which ensures a significant reduction in the production cycle by minimizing alterations, improvements, and repeated tests.

Along with traditional optimization methods, the Aviastar production system actively uses lean manufacturing tools to solve problems. For example, the visual management system and the "go and see" principle (management from places of value creation), as well as an automated problem escalation system, made it possible to quickly make decisions related to the production of parts and assemblies in workshops, and not in the offices of managers.

A "tactful" approach
When the question of increasing the pace of production is acute, the concept of "tact" cannot be dispensed with.

The tact is different. This is also part of the working cycle of the mechanism, the same engine. This is also the time interval between two generator pulses. Music has its own beat – a metric musical unit. In phonetics, there is a term "speech beat". Tact is also the ability to behave in accordance with accepted norms.

But there is a completely different tact. This is a manufacturing term that describes the required time to build a product. Cycle length is the average time interval between the start of production of one item and the start of production of the next, when these items are produced sequentially. It is this tact that becomes a very important tool in designing the work of an enterprise.

Aviastar specialists deal with this tact. For each cycle of production of the IL-76MD-90A, they work out the composition of work at the stages of assembly, the distribution of workers, managers and specialists, and the specification of the scope of equipment. To further reduce the assembly cycle of the aircraft, it was necessary to switch to control at the level of one day. Today, at many stages, the assembly is being worked out according to technological passports equal to one working shift for one worker. It is this approach to managing the assembly process that allows you to balance the amount of work, create a simple resource management system at production sites,ensure stable preparation and standardize the work process. Without the established standards for performing daily work, it is impossible to further improve this work.

A systematic approach is needed to improve the entire production process. For this purpose, project activities were launched using X-matrices for cascading and decomposing the plant's strategic goals by management levels. Thus, it was possible to answer an important question – how to link the daily activities of factory workers and the strategic goals facing the enterprise. After all, the involvement of personnel in achieving corporate goals is the most important condition for success! It is thanks to the well-coordinated work of the plant that the delivery of finished products to the customer has increased many times, the volume of production of parts has increased more than 3.5 times, and the aircraft assembly cycle has been almost tripled.

Lines from Chaos

OCC assembly line: status after project implementation
"One of the main tasks of a manager is to develop the processes and subordinates that he manages. The right processes produce the right results – " says Maxim Kamenev, Aviastar's First Deputy Director for Production and Technical Issues. – The primary action necessary for the organization of in-line production was the alignment of aggregate and assembly production along the flow. The work of Artur Gimaev, head of the wing assembly and mechanization department, demonstrates the results of a long and difficult work of the entire aggregate assembly production. Randomly scattered workshops were combined into assembly lines for each unit – in the sequence of their assembly."

Indeed, as already mentioned, initially the production workshops at Aviastar had to be built into the places of the buildings that were free from the Tu-204 and An-124 slipways. But time passed, some programs at the plant were completed, and the volumes of others were adjusted. The demand for Il-76MD-90A began to increase. The time has come for a "major overhaul" of the production process.

"The original layout of the assembly and assembly shops did not allow us to meet the required production volume of the IL-76MD-90A," says Artur Gimaev, head of the wing Assembly and Mechanization department and project manager. – The actual assembly cycle of the OCC exceeded the permissible cycle, which led to a breakdown in the production time of the entire aircraft as a whole." The team working on the project selected several key criteria for evaluating their work. They were the duration of the assembly cycle of the detachable part of the wing, the output per main production worker and the waiting time per shift. The required distance for transportation of assembly units was taken into account. It turned out that during the production of points, it is too large – about 2200 m, which is why in the process of work on this route had to spend up to 8 hours.

The main goal of the project was to ensure the production of units in the production line of assembly. To determine all the stages of wing assembly, the project team used a tool such as the SIPOC matrix. It helped to identify the following points::

* Who contributes to the process?

* What specifications are assigned to the inputs?

* Who is the true customer of the process?

· What are the customers ' requirements?

The SIPOC methodology has made it easier to describe and formalize processes. Step of the process – making one set of glasses. Suppliers – production divisions of the plant, warehouses of manufactured and purchased components. The input of the process includes individual parts, components of the OCC, various consumables (sealants, paint materials, etc.). The process is actually the assembly of the detachable part of the wing. It is organized according to certain stages: detailed-node assembly, slipway assembly, large-node assembly, off-slipway assembly. In addition, the process includes tests and possible improvements based on their results. At the exit – ready-made elements of points: the right and left wing consoles with mechanization. They go further to the final assembly site of the airframe. Using the SIPOC matrix, the project team visually displayed the current state of the process for further analysis, as a result of which aviastarovtsy developed a new layout of the production line for assembling glasses. Previously, its sections were scattered in five different places in the final assembly building. They were now lined up in a clear line.

Vector for improvements
At the first stage of the project, it was possible to organize the production of units in a production assembly line. However, even the use of such a lean production tool as "flow" did not allow us to exclude such losses as waiting and unnecessary movements from the process under consideration. The main production workers did not have time to perform the required volume during the working shift.

For example, it turned out that a worker had to go for supplies for about 900 m per shift, which took up to 35 minutes. To eliminate such losses, racks for storing the daily rate of paint and varnish materials "Bank in the Bank" were organized, working on the FIFO principle – from the English first in – first out, that is, "first in – first out". At the same time, the use of consumables has been streamlined, and the previous queues for getting paint have disappeared. Or another example: a worker's tool hikes were 1071 m and 50 min per shift, respectively. To eliminate such losses, crew cabinets for storing tools with the use of a visual control system were organized at the site. They used the delineation of the tool so that everything was in its place. Paint marking was also introduced: for example, boxes with charged batteries turned green, and those with discharged batteries turned red.

Employees themselves began to actively implement kaizen suggestions to improve their work processes. Together with supervisors and technologists, they conducted, for example, an analysis of the process of installing air conditioning pipelines in the nose of the wing at the junction of 4-5 ribs in the wing assembly and mechanization shop. Previously, the installation was carried out after the OCC was docked with the center section and the pipelines were installed by the final assembly, testing and ground testing shop. Employees of the wing assembly and mechanization shop had to wait for the installation work to be completed. As a result, a device was made – an imitation of the air conditioning system pipelines for the slipway. This made it possible to reduce the assembly cycle of pipeline installations in the nose of the wing and speed up the process of hitching and testing the front wing mechanization.

The slipway rigging was also improved simultaneously. So, to reduce the assembly cycle of the wing caisson at the stage of slipway assembly, the layout rib was finalized. Previously, it was fixed permanently, which led to defects in the extraction of the wing caisson. It was difficult to approach. In addition, the model rib was not provided for mounting on the leading holes, which required additional time when laying it in the slipway. Now the breadboard rib has become mobile and mobile. The approach to the workplace has improved. Reduced time for laying and basing panels in the slipway along the leading holes: this was achieved by installing quick-release devices.

Closer together
Another identified loss was time spent on solving production issues. So, the worker, in order to solve the next question that arose, had to walk to the technological bureau and back about 1000 m-kilometer!

To minimize such losses, offices were set up for engineering and technical workers in the production area. Due to the new location of the IT staff, the time from the occurrence of a question to the beginning of its solution is now only one minute. Progress is evident.

Today and tomorrow
"The project started to be developed in May 2022, and we plan to complete it in December 2023," Artur Gimaev shares his plans. – Our goal is to reduce the assembly cycle of units."

The implementation of two stages of the aviastarovtsev project made it possible to reduce the assembly cycle of the OCC by almost half – by 46 %. The quality of work performed has significantly increased: the number of inconsistencies has been reduced by more than one and a half times. Output per main production worker also increased by 41%. Due to the placement of sections of the assembly shop and mechanization of the wing in accordance with the assembly stages, the transportation of assembly units is now 492 m instead of the previous 2200 m. The time spent waiting has been reduced by an order of magnitude: now the worker "waits" for no more than 15.5 minutes per shift.

The next steps should be similar measures in the tail and center section assembly shop, fuselage compartment assembly shops, as well as in the production areas of the wing assembly and mechanization shop. In general, the program provides for an annual reduction of the Il-76MD-90A assembly cycle by 20-30% until 2027.

Arsenal conveyor

It is generally accepted that the first industrial assembly line was organized at the Henry Ford plant in Highland Park (Michigan), where Ford Model T cars were mass-assembled. However, in-line production appeared much earlier. The first example of a production line is probably the Arsenal Shipyard in Venice. The name "Arsenal" is a corruption of the Arabic word "darsina'a", meaning"industrial building". Traditionally, the Arsenal was founded in 1104. Since that time, a vast fleet of merchant ships and warships has emerged from its walls, bringing glory and greatness to Venice. During the period of greatest activity, more than 16 thousand people could work simultaneously behind its high battlements. Chronicles claim that the warship was fully assembled and equipped in 12 hours. To achieve this rate of production, all ship parts were standardized, and their production functions were clearly distributed among the workshops. The Arsenal's "final assembly shop" was a canal. On it, the manufactured vessel moved from one workplace, where certain assembly operations were carried out, to the next.

Text: Elena Galkina, Ekaterina Zhuravleva, Konstantin Lantratov

https://telegra.ph/Potok-na-linii-optimizaciya-i-uluchsheniya-dlya-rosta-vypuska-transportnyh-samoletov-01-17

Just looking at this footage:



I would say a few small speed boat type drones equipped with one or two of these twin barrel 23mm cannon with several hundred kilos of ammo, working together with another drone carrying a half ton of explosives would be rather potent anti ship threats...

The drones could all approach from different directions with three or four with these twin barrel 23mm guns to hose down the target ship with a hail of 23mm cannon shells at 3,500rpm each... at the very least most of the deck mounted systems will be damaged and everyone will have their heads down, while from another direction the drone with the bomb on boat streaks in and hits the ship...

API rounds with the 23mm cannon rounds will penetrate the outer skin and start internal fires at the very least... they could open fire from 2-3km range and then just run away to rearm and refuel and attack again later if needed... the first two or three attacks could be without the large bomb, or maybe if they are not prepared send in just the drone with the bomb...

The usefulness of the terminator is the firepower of the two 30mm cannon blazing away.... these guns have much higher rates of fire with low recoil small compact rounds that take up slightly more space than a HMG round.