Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov has announced that country’s Defense Ministry to receive new serial Ilyushin Il-112V aircraft from 2023.
“We should additionally transfer two prototype aircraft to the Defense Ministry for subsequent state trials by 2021 year-end and upon completion we expect to supply first serially made aircraft to the Defense Ministry since 2023,” the minister said.
The Il-112V is the first military transport plane developed in Russia from scratch in the post-Soviet period.
“We have modern aircraft, with the good export potential in place. Therefore, we will work in parallel not merely for the primary customer, which is the base one, and under export orders too,” Manturov noted. The Voronezh Aircraft Plant is ready to produce up to 15 airplanes annually, considering the replacement plans for a large number of aircraft by 2030, he added.
The Il-112V is the first military transport plane developed in Russia from scratch in the post-Soviet period.
The work on the plane’s development has been going on since 2014. The Il-112V is designed to carry up to 5 tonnes of cargoes and transport personnel. Russia is developing the plane to replace An-26 and An-24 turbo-prop planes. The plane will come in two modifications: one for civil aviation (the Il-112T) and the other as a military transport aircraft (the Il-112V).
According to multiple reports, Russia’s Defense Ministry intended to purchase 62 Il-112V planes.