Il-76 CANDID
The Il-76 Candid entered service with the former Soviet air force in 1974. The wings are high-mounted, swept-back, and tapered with blunt tips and a slight negative slant. Four turbofan engines are mounted on pylons under and extending beyond wings’ leading edges. The fuselage is long, round, and tapering to the rear, featuring a rounded nose with radome on the chin. The bottom portion of nose glassed-in. The tail flats are swept-back, tapered, and high-mounted on a swept-back, with the tapered tail fin forming a T.
The IL-76MD military transport aircraft was developed based on a mass manufactured IL-76M military transport aircraft. By virtue of strengthening the airplane main structural elements (e.g. frame, landing gear) the maximum take-off weight and commercial payload were increased. The aircraft is designed for air-mission landing (transportation) of personnel, weapons and military equipment, cargo, fuel and containers; air drop of personnel, weapons and military equipment and cargo. In order to provide for the INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION newly issued requirements for the noise and harmful substances emission levels the D 30KP engines are now being replaced with the more powerful and fuel-efficient PS-90A-76 engines. All these measures will increase the airplane economical efficiency.
The IL-76MD-90 military cargo aircraft is based on the IL-76MD and is meant for air landing and paradropping of personnel, military equipment as well as different goods. PC-90A-76 engines with higher capacity and efficiency are installed on the aircraft and meet all ICAO noise and emission requirements. The installation of the new engines raised considerably aircraft operating cost efficiency by: reducing cruise CFC by 12%; increasing range by 18%; reducing direct operating costs; and increasing payload while operating in hot-and-high airfields.
IL-76-MD-90 transport aircraft air-delivery capacity is 48 tons: it holds three air assault vehicles or 128 paratroopers, and in the two-level configuration – 225 persons with arms. Compared to its American analogue C-141, IL-76MD-90 benefits when used at shortened and unpaved airfields, and is capable of continuous standalone operation. During two months the aircraft is capable of performing combat missions far away of the base airfield being maintained by the crew only. With the fuel tank full, IL-76MD-90 may cross the territory of Russia without intermediate landing. Installation of a new PS-90A-76 engine allows not only increasing aircraft load-carrying capacity and flight range, but “updating” aircraft cockpit as well. Numerous pointer instruments are replaced with liquid crystal displays meeting the requirement of today to ergonomics and cockpit design.
In August 2004 Vladimir Mikhailov, Commander-in-Chief of RF Air Force said that at present, IL-76MD re-engining is the key direction of military-transport air fleet modernization. V.Mikhailov said that installation of Perm PS-90A-76 engines and new airborne equipment at IL-76MD aircraft will make the aircraft meet ICAO Stage 4 noise standards, improve its performance and enhance its combat readiness. Flight tests of IL-76MD-90 military-transport aircraft with Perm PS-90A-76 engines are scheduled for the beginning of 2005. Serial modernization of aircraft in use is scheduled for 2006.
The Russian air force unveiled its Ilyushin Il-76MD-90 strategic airlifter at the Moscow air show in August 2007. It is a refurbished standard Il-76MD. The new plane has Perm PS-90A76 turbofan engines, replacing the old version's NPO Saturn D-30KPs. The aircraft also features improved Leninets Kupol-76M avionics. Cruise speed is increased to 445 knots (825 kmph), maximum take-off weight is up to 210,000kg (460,000lb) and payload to 60,000kg, while fuel efficiency is up by 8 to 10 per cent. The aircraft also meets International Civil Aviation Organisation Chapter 4 requirements.
The IL-76MF aircraft is a modification of a mass manufactured IL-76MD military transport aircraft, and it is designed for the same tasks as the basic model of the aircraft. The IL-76MF provides for the following operations: transportation of personnel; transportation of wounded and sick personnel; transportation of weapons and military equipment; airdrop of personnel, weapons and military equipment and cargo; Unlike IL-76MD, the IL-76MF the length of the aircraft fuselage was enlarged by 6.6m; more powerful and efficient PS-90A-76 engines replaced the previously installed models; the integrated piloting and navigation equipment and aircraft systems were modified and updated; a new auxiliary power unit replaced the originally installed unit. Developed in the 1990s, the first flight of the prototype Il-76MF came in August 1995. Ten years later, in August 2005, this aircraft was signed the first contract: the construction of two IL-76MF with a lifetime supply in 2008-2009, ordered Jordan. TAPO has already produced several such aircraft.
The Il-76MF(TF) is the latest development of the popular cargo aircraft and features a 6.6 meter fuselage extension which increases the size of the cargo compartment by 1.3 to 1.5 times, while new PS-90A-76 turbofans each provide 16 tons of thrust. The lower fuel consumption of the new engines increase fuel efficiency by 30%, permitting a 25% increase in range. Furthermore, the additional power increases the maximum take-off weight to 210 tonnes and the payload to 52 ton. Noise and emission levels meet ICAO standard. The Il-76MD and Il-76TD are unique in their class and they can carry cargo weighing up to 50 tonnes over ranges of up to 4000 km.
In early 2003 the Ilyushin aviation complex completed the tests of the military transport plane Il-76MF with a prolonged cockpit and an enlarged cargo cabin. Since 1995, the single existing MF prototype had performed 1,500 test flights. Beginning with 01 May 2003, the Il-76MF was authorized for series production to be supplied to the Russian Air Force. VASO, which was previously selected for refitting a first batch of four Il-76MDs with PS-90A76 engines, will start building the Il-76MFs in 2005. The Russian air force has signed for 10 aircraft for delivery by 2010, while planning to take up to 100 units eventually. The Il-76MF fuselage is extended by 21.65 feet and its PS-90A engines replace older D-30KPs.
On 28 May 2003 Colonel O.V. Barmin, Chairman of RF Ministry of Defense Governmental Commission for the PS-90A-76 engine testing, presented AVIADVIGATEL leaders with a preliminary conclusion on the PS-90A-76 engine conformity to the requirements of the Ministry of Defense. The document is signed by Colonel-General V.S. Mikhailov, Air Forces Commander-in-Chief, and accords the right for engine mass-production. The PS-90A-76 will power new IL-76MF and IL-76TF aircraft; besides, it will be used to re-engine mass-produced IL-76MD and IL-76TD. At that time re-engining of two aircraft at Tashkent factory and one aircraft at Voronezh factory was underway.
However, the mass production of IL-76 family at TAPO in early 2000s fell into serious problems. This is mainly due to reductions in the factory: If at the end of the 1980's in the TAPO employed 50 thousand people, by 2005 it was less than 10 thousand This has affected the performance of a number of contracts. In particular, for a year and a half was delayed assembly of three Il-76MD-90 for the manufacture on the basis of their long-range radar detection aircraft A-50EI for India. Only in January 2008 (instead of summer 2006), the first of three cars went to Israel to install its Phalcon radar and onward transmission to the Indian Air Force. According to a September 2005 contract between Rosoboronexport and China's Defense Ministry, worth $1.5 billion, Russia was supposed to deliver 34 Il-76 Candid medium-range military transport aircraft and four Il-78 Midas aerial refueling tankers. Delivery was planned for 2008-2012. The first deliveries under the contract were due to begin in 2007, but in March 2006, Uzbekistan's Tashkent Chkalov Aircraft Association, the manufacturer of the aircraft, refused to sign a production contract with Rosoboronexport at the contract price. The Tashkent plant had no large orders in the late 1990's and was without significant subsidies, and thus was unable to fulfill an agreement. According to TAPO, the real cost of assembling 38 aircraft was more than $ 400 million more than the contract price agreed with Beijing. As a result, the agreement was delayed, and Beijing suspended negotiations on this and several other military contracts with Russia.
Since then, the Tashkent-based company has become part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation, and the planes will now be assembled at an aircraft manufacturing plant in Ulyanovsk in central Russia, the official said. In September 2008 it was reported that Russia will continue negotiations on a contract to deliver 34 transport planes and four aerial tankers to China earlier frozen due to a disagreement over prices. "We are returning to the contract and renegotiating the price of these planes," Mikhail Zavaliy, a Rosoboronexport official told reporters at an air show in the Krasnodar Region.
Following this, the Russian government issued an order to transfer the production of IL-76 family in Russia: 25 December 2006 was a contract signed between Russia and Minpromenergo MAK Ilyushin. The program decided to allocate from the state budget until 2009, 6.4 billion rubles. Coordinator of the project was MAK Ilyushin. Final assembly takes place in Ulyanovsk ZAO Aviastar-SP, wing at OAO Voronezh joint-stock aircraft Society (VASO), the landing gear chassis at Samara plant Aviaagregat. TAPO will also be retained production of components for IL-76.
The Il-76 series has proven quite popular, and some 960 total aircraft had been built by 2008, with production still underway. The Russian-built aircraft from the "Aviastar-SP" are scheduled for 2010, with the Ulyanovsk plant to produce ten IL-76 aircraft annually by 2012.
