Il-112V/Il-212 light military transport

They could also scale it up into a 4 engine plane that will replace their An-12s & substitute for the An-70s. It will be burning less fuel than the IL-276 that btw may be harder to produce, esp. since IL-476/8s r more urgently needed.

The An-8, An-12 predecessor, has 2x less max payload & is only slightly smaller, so IMO the IL-112V could be stretched, deck strengthened, & 2 engine added on bigger wings.

They could also scale it up into a 4 engine plane that will replace their An-12s & substitute for the An-70s. It will be burning less fuel than the IL-276 that btw may be harder to produce, esp. since IL-476/8s r more urgently needed.

The Russians are not short of fuel... it makes more sense to build factories capable of making Il-276 because such factories should also be able to make Il-476s as well because they are directly related designs.

If they currently have lack of production capacity for Il-476s then building new factories to make Il-276s means the new factories could make both to get production of the Il-476 ramped up for Russian requirements and then further production for export needs, but it also means that foreign operators of An-12s who are also looking for a replacement might consider a double purchase of both aircraft which use the same engine and are essentially the same aircraft in different sizes... the Il-276 being a shortened Il-476 with a smaller wing and only two engines instead of four.

The Avionics and systems can all be the same with both being capable of rough airstrip ops.

I would think getting Tupolev to start producing Tu-330s would also allow the An-12 to be replaced much faster and also offer another alternative to foreign users... it seems to be a rather good design too.

In comparison il276 (or the Tu330) would actually be easier to produce.

Plus there are less problems scaling down than scaling up and increased production capacity for Il-276/476 make sense because of the potential number needed.

The An-8, An-12 predecessor, has 2x less max payload & is only slightly smaller , so IMO the IL-112V could be stretched, deck strengthened, & 2 engine added on bigger wings.

It could be, but scaled down Il-276 has already been proposed and the Tu-330 is already being considered too.

Plus there are less problems scaling down than scaling up..

then it should be easier to scale down the An-124 instead of building the all new IL-106.

GarryB wrote:
If they currently have lack of production capacity for Il-476s then building new factories to make Il-276s means the new factories could make both to get production of the Il-476 ramped up for Russian requirements and then further production for export needs, but it also means that foreign operators of An-12s who are also looking for a replacement might consider a double purchase of both aircraft which use the same engine and are essentially the same aircraft in different sizes... the Il-276 being a shortened Il-476 with a smaller wing and only two engines instead of four.

The Avionics and systems can all be the same with both being capable of rough airstrip ops.

I would think getting Tupolev to start producing Tu-330s would also allow the An-12 to be replaced much faster and also offer another alternative to foreign users... it seems to be a rather good design too.

Bit like BMW "what size do you want your car, 3, 5 or 7 series size?" With lots of commonality.

then it should be easier to scale down the An-124 instead of building the all new IL-106.

The objective of the exercise is to purge foreign designs from the Russian military, so no.

They can do it with parts/engine import substitution & name change on the An-124 design. It'll be operated by the VKS so the Antonov can object all it wants. Importers can be happy with IL-476s.

All the improvements in design and manufacturing technology and engines, this is an opportunity to produce new designs... scaled down or scaled up modular designs make sense but just as with armour it makes sense to design everything from the outset to be scalable like the new Armata family and the Kurganets family and the Boomerang family which replaces dozens of different vehicle types with several generations of families or with jet engines where they found themselves with gaps in power ranges it made sense to create a from scratch brand new design state of the art PD series of turbofan engines for civil and military aircraft that could be easily scaled to fill the gaps and also create new engines for new sized aircraft.

The An-124 is 40 odd years old, they can apply what experience they have with it to make improvements and modifications... I would think an important lesson they learned was that a slightly smaller lighter aircraft like the An-22 is cheaper to operate... so make more Il-106s so they wont need so many Slons.

Bit like BMW "what size do you want your car, 3, 5 or 7 series size?" With lots of commonality.

Most of the stuff in a plane is not much different... they all need electrical and electronic systems to make them work as well as fuel systems and of course power systems and navigation and flight systems.

Making these things standard across the fleet gives you an opportunity to rationalise supply and support issues and make ground crew and flight crew training simpler and easier to learn and implement.

Second flight of Russia’s newest Il-112V military transport plane due March 30 — source

https://tass.com/defense/1270567

https://uacrussia.ru/ru/press-center/news/voenno-transportnyy-samolet-il-112v-vozobnovil-programmu-letnykh-ispytaniy

Il-112V military transport aircraft resumes flight test program

"Flight mission completed": Military transport Il-112V made its second flight

The promising Russian military transport aircraft Il-112V took to the skies for the second time in its history in Voronezh. The flight took place from the airfield of the Voronezh Aircraft Building Association (VASO).

The plane reportedly took off at 11:35 Moscow time. The plane was piloted by a crew consisting of chief pilot of PJSC "Il", 1st class test pilot, Hero of Russia Nikolai Kuimov, 1st class test pilot Dmitry Komarov, 1st class test flight engineer Nikolai Khludeev.

During the flight, the operating modes of the power plant, the stability and controllability of the aircraft, and the operation of its main systems were checked. The flight lasted about 30 minutes and went on as usual. According to the crew commander, the flight mission was completed.

Recall that the first flight of the IL-112V prototype intended for flight tests took place exactly two years ago - on March 30, 2019. The plane took off and made three flight circles with a simulated landing. After the first flight, the Il-112V was improved. In particular, the weight of the aircraft was reduced by about two tons, and improvements were made to the main systems of the aircraft.

The second flight was scheduled for April 2020, but was postponed for several reasons, including the reconstruction of the runway and the coronavirus.

The Il-112V light military transport turboprop aircraft is being created for replacement in transport aviationaircraft An-26 and An-24, the resource of which will soon be exhausted. The aircraft is the first developed "from scratch" in Russia, work has been underway since 2014. Designed for the transportation of military personnel, military equipment, various types of weapons and other cargo. The carrying capacity is 5 tons, the flight range is 5 thousand km, the aircraft is capable of landing and taking off from unpaved airfields.

https://6b6gjclcha6ibjpa45wvvqdamu--topwar-ru.translate.goog/181436-poletnoe-zadanie-vypolneno-voenno-transportnyj-il-112v-sovershil-vtoroj-polet.html

Russia plans to produce up to 12 Il-112B aircraft per year

This number will meet the needs of the defense Ministry in military transport aircraft of this type, said the Deputy General Director of the United aircraft Corporation, which is part of rostec.

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. The Voronezh aviation plant will be able to produce up to 12 new Il-112B military transport aircraft per year. This was announced on Tuesday by first Deputy General Director of the United aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of rostec), managing Director of PJSC "Il" Sergey Yarkov.

On March 30, the Il-112B made its second flight from the Voronezh aviation plant airfield.

"From the moment of the first flight, during which the main aerodynamic characteristics were checked, all aircraft systems were finalized and work was carried out to reduce the weight of the aircraft, which made it possible to transfer the aircraft to the stage of preliminary tests conducted jointly with the Ministry of defense. In parallel, production is being prepared for serial production of up to 12 aircraft per year, which will meet the needs of the Ministry of defense in military transport aircraft of this type and ensure a stable load of the enterprise," the UAC press service quotes Yarkov as saying.

The Il-112B is the first military transport aircraft developed in Russia from scratch in the post-Soviet period. Work on its creation has been underway since 2014 at the Ilyushin Aviation complex (part Of the United aircraft Corporation of the rostec state Corporation). The aircraft will be capable of carrying up to 5 tons of cargo and is designed to transport soldiers, military equipment and weapons. The machine is being created to replace the an-26 and an-24 turboprop Engines, and its mass production is planned from 2023.

https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/11026569

So it is confirmed that the weight was reduced and all this time was not only due to the modification of the runway... it was the only approach that made sense, testing a plane that needs to be completely changed is a waste of time

The third flight of the Il-112V light military transport aircraft

https://dambiev.livejournal.com/2281643.html

Photos of the fourth flight of the Il-112V light military transport aircraft, built under a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. The flight was carried out at the airfield of the Voronezh aircraft building enterprise PJSC VASO (part of PJSC UAC of the State Corporation Rostec). April 6, 2021 (c)

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:

LMFS wrote:
So it is confirmed that the weight was reduced and all this time was not only due to the modification of the runway... it was the only approach that made sense, testing a plane that needs to be completely changed is a waste of time

From what I read in another article, they managed to reduce the weight of 2080 kg in comparison to the first prototype.

And from the third prototype onwards they should be able to save another 400 kg.

https://aviation21.ru/v-voronezhe-vozobnovilis-lyotnye-ispytaniya-lvts-il-112v/

As a result of large-scale measures, it was possible to reduce the weight of the aircraft by 2082 kg. The aircraft will “lose” another 500 kg after upgrading the equipment complex, switching to an electro-remote control system, and optimizing the hydraulic system. This will reduce the weight of the aircraft by 2472 kg. All updates are being implemented on the third prototype aircraft (z / n 0103), its appearance will fully correspond to all subsequent production aircraft.

But wasn't the original problem an aerodynamic cg one where they used a 2 ton ballast weight to balance the prototype for the first flight tests and this delay wasnt just about trimming weight, it was about fixing the aerodynamic problem so the ballast weight could be removed... thus reducing the weight by 2 tons from the flying prototype... but the 2 tons it saved was added to the prototype to allow it to fly in the first place... therefore that 2 tons weight reduction with the correction of the aerodynamics merely allowed them to remove the 2 ton ballast weight.

What they seem to be talking about here with electric drive control servo controls instead of hydraulic, or perhaps reducing the role of the hydraulics to a back up role on some important surfaces... like rear door...

My question is... when they talk about saving two tons is that after the ballast is removed, so the current aircraft that made this flight is actually 4 tons (two tons saving plus two tons ballast no longer needed as used in the first flight) lighter than the first flying prototype.

When they talk about weight saving measures they don't mention not needing the ballast weight any more, but then in flight a two ton ballast weight at the back of the aircraft could be countered by a two ton weight loss at the front of the aircraft and therefore the removal of the ballast weight too.

The weight loss would then be 2 tons I suppose with the ballast weight being ignored as a temporary bandaid fix rather than an integral part of the aircraft that could then be removed as a weight saving.