Russian military transport branch expands its strength

THE RUSSIAN Air Force’s Voenno- Transportnaya Aviatsia (VTA or Military Transport Aviation branch) increased its force strength in 2017.

In November, the VTA Command established its second division, which controls three heavy transport regiments in addition to two independent squadrons equipped with medium and light types.

The newly established 18th Voenno-Transportnaya Aviatsionnaya Divisya (VTAD or division) is headquartered at Orenburg in the southeastern corner of the European part of Russia, and its principal subordinate units, both operating the Il-78MD, are the 117th Voenno-Transportnoy Aviatsionny Polk (VTAP or regiment), also stationed at Orenburg and the 708th VTAP in Taganrog. The latest addition to the 18th VTAD’s strength is the 235th VTAP, a military transport regiment established on December 1, 2017, at Ulyanovsk Air Base. Its initial fleet comprises ten Il- 76MDs and in 2018 the regiment is slated to become the first front-line unit taking on strength new-build Il-76MD-90A transports, produced by the Aviastar-SP company, also situated in Ulyanovsk. Co-location of the regiment and the plant is considered a big advantage during the service entry period and the warranty support for the new type, which is still plagued by teething troubles.

In addition, the newly formed regiment at Ulyanovsk is slated to take on strength overhauled and upgraded An-124-100s, also cycled through Aviastar-SP. The first such aircraft (c/n 01-10) named Oleg Antonov was rolled out on December 1 (named after the prominent Soviet aircraft designer who founded the Antonov Design Bureau in 1946, initially based in Novosibirsk in Russia and then moved to Kiev in Ukraine in 1952. Following ground and flight testing, this aircraft is set to be handed over to the 235th VTAP in early 2018.

The other division, the 12th VTAD, is headquartered at Tver- Migalovo north of Moscow and also controls three regiments, equipped with heavy transports. These are the 196th VTAP, also stationed at Tver-Migalovo Air Base and the 334th VTAP at Pskov, both flying the Il-76MD, while the 556th VTAP at Seshta is equipped with the An-124-100.

Slow-going Il-96MD-90A programme

The development, testing and production effort for the 210-tonne Il-76MD-90A, the VTA’s new workhorse, proved to be an expensive and protracted undertaking. This significantly improved derivative of the proven Il-76 workhorse (NATO codename Candid) took to the air for the first time on September 22, 2012, at Ulyanovsk-Vostochnii airfield.

Two initial production-standard aircraft have been taken on strength by the VTA so far, the first in December 2015 and the second one following suit in January 2016. Both aircraft are currently used for aircrew conversion training at the Ivanovo-based 610th Combat Training and Aircrew Conversion Centre. Then a pause of about 30 months followed before resumption of Il- 76MD-90A deliveries, as the VTA had to wait for the completion of the second phase of the state testing and evaluation of the type. This long-delayed second phase finally began in February 2017 using the first production Il-76MD-90A (c/n 01-02), its main purpose being testing of the newly added integrated self-protection suite and the multisensor observation payload in the nose.

Roll-out at Aviastar-SP of the first ordered Il-78M-90A tanker took place on November 29, 2017. The aircraft has exactly the same equipment standard as that of the Il-76MD-90A transport, including a multisensor payload in the nose and an integrated self-protection suite.
Aviastar-SP
The 235th VTAP was established at Ulyanovsk on December 1, 2017, and operates an initial fleet of ten Il-76MDs transferred from the 119th VTAP.
Aviastar-SP
The first Il-76MD-90A, named ‘Viktor Livanov’ was delivered to the VTA’s combat training centre in Ivanovo, the 610th CTATC, in December 2015.
UAC

The flight testing campaign is expected to be completed in early 2018, thus enabling resumption of the Il-76MD-90A’s deliveries to the VTA by the middle of the year at the earliest. According to Aviastar-SP, the 2018 production plan covers rolling out five Il-76MD-90As for the VTA.

Currently, the production line used for assembling Il-76MD-90A transports and Il-78M-90A tankers has a capacity of six aircraft a year, but it is set for increase to 18 when additional tooling and jigs will be provided in order to accelerate the production process and grant slots for export and delivery to other Russian government customers.

In addition to one aircraft for use in the development and testing effort and the two Il-76MD-90As handed over to the VTA, Aviastar-SP has also produced two more machines handed over to the TANTK Beriev company in Taganrog for subsequent conversion to the A-100 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) version. The first of these took to the air for the first time following assembly in Ulyanovsk in November 2014 and then made its maiden flight in its new guise in Taganrog on November 18, 2017.

The procurement contract for delivering 39 newly built

Il-76MD-90A transports to the VTA was signed in October 2012 between the Russian Ministry of Defence and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), the parent company of Ilyushin and Aviastar- SP. It was priced at RUB 140 billion. The original delivery schedule covered the period between 2014 and 2020, but now it seems that the delay in the development, testing and launch into production may postpone the completion of deliveries until about 2022.

In June 2017, however, the Russian authoritative newspaper Komersant hinted that the Russian Ministry of Defence and UAC are set to undertake a comprehensive review of the original procurement contract. The chief reason for this is a gross miscalculation of the Il- 76MD-90A’s production expenses at Aviastar-SP, combined with the sharp increase of the RUB-USD exchange rate recorded in 2014 and 2015. As a result, the Il-76MD- 90A’s production turned out as being a loss-incurring activity for the Ulyanovsk-based company. According to Komersant, the loss from each aircraft at Aviastar-SP accounted for RUB 1 billion. In an effort to avoid further losses, UAC has requested a unit price increase from RUB 3.5 to 5 billion. At the same time, as Komersant claimed, the Russian Ministry of Defence has rejected to increase the total contract price and this means that the number of aircraft set for procurement would drop to about 28 for a budget of RUB 140 billion.

As of early December 2017, there was no further news on the unit price increase issue and the possible reduction of the number of aircraft intended to be procured by the Russian Ministry of Defence.

New Russian tanker aircraft set for its first flight

Meanwhile, the first Il-78M-90A tanker built at Aviastar-SP, based on the design of the Il-76MD- 90A transport, was rolled out on November 29, 2017, and is set to begin its flight testing effort in early 2018. The aircraft retains the full transport capability of its predecessor, thanks to the convertible cargo hold. The two removable tanks in the cargo hold house 50,000kg (110,000lb) of aviation fuel and these can be rapidly replaced by the VAP-2 fire attack kit. This will enable the Il-78M-90A to be used as a water bomber with the kit, including two tanks for dropping a total of 42,000 litres (9,530 US gallons) of water. Tanks can be installed in the cargo hold or removed from there within two to three hours.

The new-generation tanker also comes equipped with three newly developed Zvezda UPAZ-1M aerial refuelling pods with an increased fuel transfer rate of 3,000 litre/min. The first Il-78M-90A also suffered from protracted development and production.

The aircraft entered production at Aviastar-SP in February 2015 and the original contract called for the first flight to be made in early 2016. Russian military needs are estimated at some 30 Il-78M-90A tankers, which are set to complement the existing fleet of Il-78s and Il-78Ms, but no production contract has been signed for the new aircraft. The contract will probably be signed upon successful completion of the flight testing effort of the first Il-78M-90A.

Named Oleg Antonov, the first An-124-100 is the first of the type for the 235th VTAP. The giant airlifter was rolled out at Aviastar-SP on December 1, 2015, following overhaul and upgrade, and is set to be taken on strength by the unit upon completion of its ground and flight testing effort in early 2018.
UAC