Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW
The Russian air force plans to upgrade its ageing transport aircraft and improve its inventory readiness, which is threatened by delays to the introduction of new types.
The plan's centrepiece will be a life extension for the Ilyushin Il-76 tactical transport, the most numerous aircraft in Military Transport Aviation (VTA). Air force commander Col Gen Anatoly Kornukov says he expects the newer Il-76MF, with its lengthened fuselage and Perm PS-90 engines, to enter service in two years' time. The TAPO plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where the aircraft is built, has eight fuselages in various stages of assembly.
The VTA also plans to restore its 20 grounded Antonov An-124s to operational levels. The aircraft have been grounded largely because of a lack of spares and poor engine reliability.
The largest turboprop aircraft in the world, the Antonov An-22, will be retired in two or three years, Kornukov says, with the Antonov An-70 propfan entering service "at best, in three or four years' time". The An-70 remains an air force priority, he adds. Plans are for a heavy transport to replace the An-22 and An-124 at an unspecified future date, according to Kornukov.
The commander's comments follow major tactical airlift and paratroop deployment exercises in March, designated Vozdushniy Most 99 (Air Bridge 99), in which the 61st Air Army deployed paratroops and vehicles in large-scale air drops.
Source: Flight International
