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Hole wrote:Isn´t there already a contract for 39 or 40 planes?
The order for 39 planes was for the cargo version.Hole wrote:Isn´t there already a contract for 39 or 40 planes?
TheArmenian wrote:The order for 39 planes was for the cargo version.Hole wrote:Isn´t there already a contract for 39 or 40 planes?
IL-78M-90A has a number of unique features. If necessary, the Il-78M-90A tanker can be used as a cargo plane - the fuel tanks located in the cargo compartment can be dismantled and the tanker becomes a military transport plane.
Re-equipment will not require a large amount of work and is carried out in a home-based aerodrome. If necessary, fire fighting equipment can be installed on the aircraft.
On the plane installed new engines PS-90A-76. “They give the aircraft completely different characteristics: by the range and duration of the flight, by the amount of fuel delivered, as well as by the reduced run-up of the aircraft,” said the chief designer of the Il-76 / Il-78 Andrei Yurasov.
Another important advantage is the new wing, which is lighter, takes more fuel, is more technological and is designed for an increased take-off weight of the aircraft.
On-Il-78M-90A almost completely replaced on-board equipment. The heart of the machine - the latest flight-navigation complex. It allows you to fly around the world, to fulfill its mission as a tanker and transport aircraft capable of flying on international routes according to civilian requirements. “The design of the aircraft itself is very perfect, over which time has no power,” the chief designer emphasized.
Yurasov noted that the closure of the R & D stage has significantly reduced the amount of overdue debt to the Russian Defense Ministry.
In the future, the IL-78M-90A will become the main tanker of the Long-Range Aviation of Russia.
On the bmpd side, we recall that the first prototype of the Il-78M-90A tanker aircraft (Serial Number 0201, registration number RF-78741) developed by Il PJSC based on the Il-76MD-90A military transport aircraft was transferred to the AO Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk on November 29, 2017, and made the first flight on January 19, 2018, and on January 25, 2018 performed three test flights (the flight on January 25 was officially declared the first). After that, the plane did not fly into the air for 11 months, being on the modifications and ground testing of systems, and only on December 27, 2018 made a fourth test flight, officially credited as the first under the program of factory flight tests.
The construction and testing of the first prototype model of the Il-78M-90A aircraft is carried out under a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to conduct development work on the creation of a promising tanker aircraft based on the Il-76MD-90A military transport aircraft as part of the development heavy military transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A and advanced tanker aircraft at its base.
According to the terms of the contract, flight tests of the first sample IL-78M-90A were to be started in 2016.
To date, the Aviastar-SP plant has also built seven copies (including a prototype) of the Il-76MD-90A military transport aircraft (including two in 2018).
That may change in the next 10-15 years... the Russian AF does not operate world wide and so the need for a world wide network of inflight refuelling aircraft simply does not exist for them at the moment.
That may change in the next 10-15 years.
Even within Russia, w/o those tankers more fighters will have to be produced (+airbases to refuel them) & maintained, not to mention pilots, to be kept at various remote locations, separated by several time zones, in case they r needed there on short notice.
Their Su-34s & MiG-31s practiced for those contingencies already.
Also, not having to stop for refueling in bad weather will avoid dangerous conditions often present in Siberia & the Far North & East.
GarryB wrote:
I would say production of maybe 30-40 Il-96 based inflight refuelling tankers would be an enormous boost for the Strategic and long range aviation... which could be made even more valuable if large transport aircraft also got inflight refuelling probes to extend their flight range and operational performance.
Hole wrote:Another solution would be a tanker version of the Il-276. Could easily be deployed to all "frontline" airfields.
Hole wrote:The Il-276 would be the mid-term replacement for the Su-24M.
All this planes should be convertible - transporter/tanker. Except the old Il-78M. It was always my suggestion to equip new "cargo" planes with pylons for recon and ECM pods and also weapons.
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