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Further Reading

Il-112 Transport Aircraft

Ilyushin's Il-112VT lightweight tactical transport emerged in the first Russian air force tender for new airlift capability. The aircraft is a classic high-wing design in the six-metric-ton (13,228-pound) payload class and powered by a pair of commercially certified 2,500-hp Klimov TV7-117S turboprops. This light military transport aircraft can also be operated by civilian carriers.

The high-wing Il-112 utility turboprop is a shrunk version of the low-wing Il-114, launched in 2000. The fuselage is 6.2m shorter, but the type retains the -114's Klimov TV7-117 turboprops. A military Il-112V with a loading ramp and 11-seat corporate shuttle versions will also be offered. The Ilyushin Il-114 was designed to fill what could ultimately be a very large requirement to replace ageing fleets of turboprop airliners, including the Antonov An-24, in service on regional routes within Russia and other CIS states.

The specification calls for a 6,000kg payload and a 6,000km range. The Il-112VT will have two high-power derivatives of the Klimov TV7-117S engine, used on the Il-114 regional turboprop. The Il-112VT will have a 2.4 x 2.4m cabin cross section and a rear ramp and will be required to operate from 800-1,000m unprepared strips.

In May 2003, the Il-112VT was selected as the Russian Air Force's next-generation airlifter, beating the RSK MiG MiG-110, Sukhoi S-80 and a Tupolev design. The Russian defence ministry estimated 100-120 aircraft would be needed by 2010. The commercial market was estimated at 200 units and production will be carried out at the VASO plant in Voronezh. Ilyushin planned to fulfil the order in some four to five years. Ilyushin became the first in Russia, with its Il-112V, to land a three-year contract with the Russian Defence Ministry - previously, such contracts were concluded for one year. The contract covers the entire product development period, including the draft design and the mock-up.

A four-year development program was launched following the approval by Air Forces C-in-C of aircraft's technical specifications on 17 November 2003. This called for preliminary design to be complete by early 2004, full scale development to begin in mid-2004 and the first Il-112VT to fly in 2006 at the VASO plant. Early delays to this timetable experienced when mockup commission postponed six months from planned date of June 2004. One milestone in 2004 was the acceptation of the Il-112V draft design and the examination of its mock-up. The examination board approved of the mock-up, but there are a number of shortcomings that have to be eliminated. Ilyushin had the draft design and the mock-up submitted as scheduled.

On 16 October 2006 Voronezh-based stock aircraft- building society (VASO) director general Mikhail Shushpanov said the enterprise was to start producing the Il-112 airplanes in November. At the end of 2006, UABC's management confirmed VACO's production plan up to 2015. According to the plan, VACO is expected to manufacture a total of 262 airplanes of various types and 462 production kits for the Sukhoi Superjet. The company plans to produce 27 IL-96 planes (three per year between 2007 and 2015); 170 AN-148s (two in 2007, 8 in 2008, 16 in 2009 and 24 airplanes per annum from 2010 onwards); and 65 military cargo airplanes - the IL-112 (two in 2010, 4 in 2011, 8 in 2012, 11 in 2013, 20 in 2014 and 20 in 2015).

In January 2007, Ilyushin stated Il-112V detail design "nearly ready" and to be finalised by mid-2008. Construction of prototype to begin in mid-2008 by VASO for two-year trials program. Russian Air Forces C-in-C confirmed continued commitment to Il-112 in January 2006. Development costs funded 30 per cent by Russian government and 70 per cent from private finance. VASO at Voronezh was to build three flying and two static test prototypes.

The Russian air force plans to purchase Il-112 light military transport planes in order to renew its fleet, Maj- Gen Viktor Kachalkin, commander of Military Transport Aviation (MTA) [the 61st Air Army of the Supreme Command], said 29 May 2007. "We can confidently operate MTA's current fleet until 2020, except for An-26 and An-24 planes. In order to replace these aircraft as quickly as possible, the air force plans to purchase Il- 112 light military transport planes," Kachalkin told a news briefing.

On 14 February 2008 the chairman of board of directors of joint stock company "Vaso" Victor Livanov stated that the building of the light military transport aircraft Il-112[V], which is the first model of the military establishment, developed in the last 15 years, will begin on the Voronezh aircraft factory in the middle of 2008. According to him, structural parts with the long cycle of production into the production will be first to be fabricated. Development Il-112[V] is conducted at the level of the advanced technologies of machine design, emphasized Livanov, after adding, that the developer of aircraft - [AK] im Il'yushin - already began to transfer on joint stock company "of Vaso" design and technical documentation. Scientific research and experimental-design work on the creation of new aircraft according to the official information [OAK] was evaluated at 3 billion rubles. The share of federal money was about 1 billion, with the remaining money drawn by the developers of the Il-112[V] in the form of credits and investments from extra-budgetary resources.