Russian light military transport plane development suffers delay
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Moscow, 2 June: The mock-up commission tasked with considering the Il-112V light military transport aircraft,
designed by the Ilyushin Aircraft Company, has been postponed until December.
"The mock-up commission, tasked with considering the Il-112V aircraft, will meet at the Ilyushin Aircraft
Company in December, rather than in May as was expected," a source in the Russian defence industry told
Interfax-Military News Agency today. He noted that the light military transport, designed to replace AN-24T Coke and
AN-26 Curl in the Russian airlift aviation, was envisaged by the state armament programme until 2010.
According to the source, the first funds will be provided by the 2004 state defence order. "At the present time
the cost of research and development is relatively low, but it will considerably increase, when the pilot batch is
produced and its flight tests start," the source said.
Lt-Gen Viktor Denisov, commander of military transport aviation, said earlier that the first Il-112V flight prototype
would make its appearance in 2006 [see Interfax-AVN news agency 0930 gmt 31 May]. The Ilyushin company won the tender on
the light military transport to be fielded with the air force in mid 2003. The tender also saw participation of the MiG
Aircraft Corporation, the Tupolev company, and the Myasishchev plant. The Il-112V specification requirements were
adopted by the armed forces chief of staff in November 2003. The pilot batch and mass-production aircraft will be
manufactured at the Voronezh Aircraft Company.
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