Il-20 COOT (ILYUSHIN)
The Il-20 is a military version of the Il-18 passenger airplane, with electronic equipment and an array of external antennae. It is still used by the Russian Air Force as flying command post. This version is sometimes unofficially referred to as Il-20 or Coot-A in NATO code. A maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft, the Il-38, was also developed from the Il-18.
The Il-18 airframe serves as the basis of the Il-20 ELINT/reconnaissance platform. Aircraft in the IL-18 family which bore separate designations included the IL-20M ELINT, the IL-20RT space tracker, the IL-22 airborne command post, the IL-24N Ice reconnaissance aircraft used to support commercial shipping operations in the Arctic regions. The Il-20 ('Coot-N) was first observed in 1978 and features a variety of antennas, with a large ventral canoe presumed to contain a side looking radar. Blisters on either side of the forward fuselage are another obvious external feature.
The first Il-20 was a ground attack aircraft with 2700hp AM-47F engine, a prototype of which flew in 1948, though no production followed. The designation Il-20 was reused for the civil version of the Il-28 bomber and for the Il-20 'Coot'.
The Il-20M (ASCC name Coot A) was designed for intelligence gathering with its distinguishing features being the Igla- 1 phased-array SLAR (Side-Looking Airborne Radar) pod under the forward fuselage, housings for A-87P LOROP cameras and the Romb 4 sigint system. Two antennas also protrude from the top of the fuselage for the Vishnaya communications intelligence gathering system. It is flown by a crew of five accompanied by eight mission specialists. The prototype, a converted Il-18D, first flew on March 25, 1968, and was followed by 20 new-build aircraft. Most of these have been seen in an overall grey scheme, though some sport Aeroflot livery and a civilian registration.
A further modification was the Il-20DSR though little is known of the nature of its upgrades. In 1973, four additional aircraft were built as Il-20RTs to act as communications and radio-relay aircraft, these however were later superseded by an Ilyushin Il-76 variant.
The first Il-22 was the first Soviet jet bomber, a conventional design that was abandoned in favour of the simpler IL-28. The Il-22 had a rather fat fuselage of circular cross-section, and an unswept wing with four jet engines underneath.
Il-22 Zebra is an airborne control version of the Il-18D-36. Since the 1970s Il-22M and Il-22M11 aircraft - “airborne command points” have been developed and put into serial production. Several Il-22 ('Coot-B') airborne command post aircraft were converted from surplus Il-18 airliners, and again feature a variety of antennas and external protuberances. Originally, about 70 Il-22 were produced from 1977. The type was developed from the Il-18D of which 565 were built, the last in 1979. Up to 30 new-built Il-22 'Coot-B' airborne command post adaptations of the Il-18 transport were delivered in Aeroflot markings (SSSR-75898 to 75928, not necessarily consecutive) to RFAS (CIS) air forces as replacements for the An-12VKP. Avionics integration reportedly by Myasishchev. Ukraine has at least one; another, in Kazakhstan, was converted to a VIP transport with internal mission fittings removed. Former Belarusian Il-22M SSSR-75916 sold to Concors of Latvia in 1998 and converted to Il-18D airliner.
Some 25 Coot-Bs were built as new airframes based on the long-range Il-18D airliner, with systems integration carried out by the Myasishchev Design Bureau. The aircraft retained the designation Il-18 on the fuselage side in traditional llyushin style, as well as the original Aeroflot colour scheme and late-series civilian registration blocks for this type. The Il-22M Bizon [Bison] Airborne Command Post operates in Aeroflot colors but is operated by the Russian Air Force.
It would be logical to expect variety of external fairings and antennae, differing from one aircraft to another, depending on its specific duties, but all examples photographed recently have common configuration. These are identified by bullet fairing at fin-tip, long and shallow container under front fuselage, and many small blade antennae above and below fuselage. SSSR-75913, operated by 16th Air Army in early 1990s, designated as Il-22M 'Bison'; SSSR-75915 was Il-18M-15; Il-22 designation and 'Zebra' nickname may apply to all other in-service 'Coot-Bs'.
'Coot-C' reporting name is believed to be applied to the ELINT platform encountered by Canadian CF-18s during the late 1980s and early 1990s. May be the same as configuration shown on Russian television in early 1999. This lacked the underfuselage SLAR-type fairing but had a comprehensive antenna group above the fuselage, with large, swept 'hockey stick' antennas over rear part of cabin. In early 1999 a new variant of Russia's Il-22 Coot-B Strategic Airborne Command Post (ABNCP) was shown briefly on Russian TV taking off from an unnamed base.
The aircraft differed from the two earlier variants, the Il-22 Zebra and Il-22M Bizon, in that it did not have long tube-like under fuselage pods (on the Il-22 that is about 65ft [20m] long, while on the Il-22M it is around 30ft [9m] in length). Instead, there are two large 'hockey stick' antennae on top of the fuselage and one of similar size on the underside. It is possible that this variant had been in existence for some time and had only now been revealed, since there have been previous reports of Il-22s without the long under fuselage antennae. However, the latter aircraft was also without the fin-top cigar-like antenna which is present on the new variant.
Following the major restructuring of Russia's military forces in 1998, it is possible that the role of the Il-22 had also been redefined. In keeping with these changes, the new antenna array may possibly be serving as a communications suite biased more towards a shorter range theater-level task.
Two aircraft have shared the designation Ilyushin Il-24. In 1947, the S.V. Ilyushin Design Bureau developed a design of the IL-24 jet front-line bomber powered by two A.A. Mikulin TKRD-1 engines (2 x 3300 kgf). But the well developed and proven RD-45 (license Rolls-Royce "NIN" engine) with a maximum thrust of 2270 kgf became available and resulted in project changes resulting in the IL-28 powered by two RD-45s. The Il-24N is an ice reconnaissance and fishery observation version of the Il-18D.
