Russian Transport Aircraft fleet (VTA)

eridan wrote:

George1 wrote:
   

   The upgraded Il-76MD-M aircraft retains the old D-30KP engines, which are being modified to extend their life. Modernization works should bring the airborne equipment of the aircraft to the level of the equipment of the newly constructed Il-76MD-90A. The total service life of the aircraft is extended by 15 years. According to the requirements of the Ministry of Defense, the cost of upgrading the IL-76MD to the Il-76MD-M version should be only one third of the cost of the new IL-76MD-90A aircraft.

If true, that doesn't sound like a good deal. To pay one third of brand new plane's cost for 15 more years. When lifespan of a new transport plane is easily three times that. So that roughly ends up being similar cost during whole projected lifetime. But on top of that, the modernized ones will still be stuck with lower perfomance - less range and less payload. It's really worse deal than getting new il76 with new engines. I guess the only reason the modernization IS going through is that there's simply no cheap way to increase il76 production further than it is now. So if RuAF wants to upkeep its transport fleet in numbers, modernizing older il76 makes some sense.

The military transport aircraft will receive three new planes Il-76MD-90A in 2018
On June 6, 20:48 UTC+3
Besides, Ruslan modernized by An-124 will be transferred to the order of VTA

MOSCOW, on June 6. / TASS/. The military transport aircraft (VTA, is a part of Aerospace forces of the Russian Federation) plans to receive three new planes Il-76MD-90A and one An-124 Ruslan this year. The deputy commander, the chief engineer of VTA Mikhail Kozlov has told about it following the results of educational and methodical collecting.

"This year we have to receive three planes Il-76MD-90A and Ruslan modernized by An-124 in operation, he said.

During educational and methodical collecting representatives of administrative board of engineering and aviation service VTA have discussed an order of transfer of Il-76MD-90A and An-124-100 in operation and also "problematic issues of production of components for transport planes".

Collecting has taken place in the territory of the Ulyanovsk aircraft factory "Aviastar-SP". Representatives of VTA have examined production of transport planes, have got acquainted with the technical capacity of the enterprise.

"The main subject of collecting - problematic issues in ensuring reliability of the aircraft equipment and safety of flights, ways of their decision. Special attention has been paid to production of planes Il-76MD-90A and modernization of An-124", - Kozlov has noted.


In more detail on TASS:
http://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/5269269

LMFS wrote:

The military transport aircraft will receive three new planes Il-76MD-90A in 2018
On June 6, 20:48 UTC+3
Besides, Ruslan modernized by An-124 will be transferred to the order of VTA

MOSCOW, on June 6. / TASS/. The military transport aircraft (VTA, is a part of Aerospace forces of the Russian Federation) plans to receive three new planes Il-76MD-90A and one An-124 Ruslan this year. The deputy commander, the chief engineer of VTA Mikhail Kozlov has told about it following the results of educational and methodical collecting.

"This year we have to receive three planes Il-76MD-90A and Ruslan modernized by An-124 in operation, he said.

During educational and methodical collecting representatives of administrative board of engineering and aviation service VTA have discussed an order of transfer of Il-76MD-90A and An-124-100 in operation and also "problematic issues of production of components for transport planes".

Collecting has taken place in the territory of the Ulyanovsk aircraft factory "Aviastar-SP". Representatives of VTA have examined production of transport planes, have got acquainted with the technical capacity of the enterprise.

"The main subject of collecting - problematic issues in ensuring reliability of the aircraft equipment and safety of flights, ways of their decision. Special attention has been paid to production of planes Il-76MD-90A and modernization of An-124", - Kozlov has noted.


In more detail on TASS:
http://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/5269269

Yak-130: Sale and auction of scrap material.
An-10/12: Sale and auction of scrap material

Tu-134: Sale and auction of scrap material and spare parts.
An-24/26/30/32: Sale and auction of scrap material.

Mi-6/10/22: Sale and auction of scrap material and spare parts.
L-39: Sale and auction of scrap material.

L-29: Sale and auction of scrap material.

Tu-330
This versatile aircraft is also in a developmental stage. It can replace both the An-12 and the heavier Il-76 on middle-distance flights. Like other Russian military transport aircraft, it can be operated from unpaved runways.
It is similar to the civil version of the Tu-214, which is already being produced. In case of an urgent order, the aircraft can be designed and certified in a very short time.
Tu-330 can carry up to 35 tons over a distance of up to 3,000 km, and with a load of 20 tons, can fly over 5,600 km.
https://www.rbth.com/defence/2015/07/21/russia_looks_to_modernize_indonesian_air_force_47883.html

Tsavo Lion wrote:The IL-112 project has some serious problems:
https://lenta.ru/news/2018/07/08/samolet/

Perhaps it's time to revive the TU-330:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-330
https://www.aviaport.ru/conferences/43064/

Tu-330
This versatile aircraft is also in a developmental stage. It can replace both the An-12 and the heavier Il-76 on middle-distance flights. Like other Russian military transport aircraft, it can be operated from unpaved runways.
It is similar to the civil version of the Tu-214, which is already being produced. In case of an urgent order, the aircraft can be designed and certified in a very short time.
Tu-330 can carry up to 35 tons over a distance of up to 3,000 km, and with a load of 20 tons, can fly over 5,600 km.
https://www.rbth.com/defence/2015/07/21/russia_looks_to_modernize_indonesian_air_force_47883.html

I insulted not George1. I received insults.

Is there a reason why Russia was pursuing the IL-112 over this? Haven't heard much about the tu-330

GarryB wrote:The Il-112 is a 5 ton payload class aircraft... it will be replacing An-24/26/32 class transports and possibly An-72... there is no way at all that they would choose to revive the Tu-330... a 35 ton payload class transport to replace a 5 ton payload aircraft.

The Tu-330 wont be revived because it would be redundant with the Il-276 being developed instead of the joint Russian Indian MTA...

I insulted not George1. I received insults.

Insults were given by a lot of people and that is the problem... who insulted who first might influence who gets the longest ban, but everyone who insults will get a ban if it continues...

Hope we are clear...

Is there a reason why Russia was pursuing the IL-112 over this? Haven't heard much about the tu-330

Russia is pursuing the Il-112 and Il-112V because they want a light transport to replace the An-24/26 and An-32 families in the 6 ton payload transport range.

It will be smaller and lighter and cheaper than An-12s in the 20 ton payload range, but then that will be replaced by the Il-276 reduced size Il-476 aircraft in the 20-30 ton payload range.

IL-112
IL-276
IL-476
Pak Ta

GarryB wrote:

IL-112
IL-276
IL-476
Pak Ta

Pretty much, but I do hope the PAK TA expands into three related aircraft with 2, 4, and 6 engines in the 90-100 ton, 120-150 ton, and 200-250 ton payload class to replace the An-22, An-124, and An-225 respectively. A unified modular design that could perhaps have wing and fuselage inserts to increase or decrease size and of course add or remove engines...

Some of those new rockets will need external carriage and of course they are planning new Shuttle type aircraft too, so they might need 3-4 An-225 types in a few years time.

Note the Il-112 is a 5-6 ton payload aircraft able to replace the An-26 types, while the Il-276 will be a 20-30 ton payload aircraft to replace the An-12.

The Il-476 is a 60 ton payload aircraft.

Isos wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:Pages after pages talking about nothing. I don't even know what you people are even arguing about anyway? Il-112? Plane isn't even flown yet. Il-114 is supposed to fly soon ish anyway. And there is no real detail other than "at least 100 of these cars are needed".

Am I correct or we talking of something else?

I think it's eehnie talking about An-2 being a shity plane so all russian plane are shit. And then someone made the mistake to answer him. So now he use red and blue colors to quote wiki pages and who knows what other fantastic (I mean literaly fantastic ) sources and no one reads it but the orange notification appears on the main page so most people click on it just to remove the orange notification rather than read what he says.

4 An-124 "Ruslan", 46 Il-76 and one An-22 "Antey" are currently in combat condition..

For the replacement of light and medium transporters, Il-112V, Il-214 (MTS) and Tu-330 were considered. But these projects were once buried by officials, although they could give an impetus to the development of a whole line of domestic airliners.

George1 wrote:

4 An-124 "Ruslan", 46 Il-76 and one An-22 "Antey" are currently in combat condition..

Only 5 planes for strategic transport..

George1 wrote:

For the replacement of light and medium transporters, Il-112V, Il-214 (MTS) and Tu-330 were considered. But these projects were once buried by officials, although they could give an impetus to the development of a whole line of domestic airliners.

i had the impression that Il-112V had been revived..

miketheterrible wrote:They can convert other planes to transport troops.  They gotta order more Il-76's.

George1 wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:They can convert other planes to transport troops.  They gotta order more Il-76's.

they have ordered il-476s which is an upgraded version of il-76

Parlous State of VTA
Posted on October 13, 2018 | 1 Comment

Oleg Falichev wrote recently for Voyenno-promyshlennyy kuryer on the parlous state of Russia’s VTA — Military-Transport Aviation. The one-time Krasnaya zvezda correspondent laid out a less-than-convincing “infomercial” supporting renewed production of the Soviet-era An-124 heavy transport by Ilyushin.

That said, Falichev made points worthy of attention. Still some of his numbers are irreconcilable. But the thrust of his report is significant and grim for the VTA.

The current condition of the VTA inventory isn’t up to its missions, according to Falichev. Those missions include transferring troops between theaters, delivering large-diameter equipment, medical evacuation, other logistical support, and, most importantly, carrying the VDV to the battlefield.

VTA workhorses — the An-124 and Il-76 — are in dire need of replacement and/or modernization. The issue, Falichev says, is what needs to be done to keep them flying.

The majority of Russian transport aircraft were made in Soviet times or the 1990s, and the service life of most is expiring. Falichev reports that Moscow has only four An-124, 46 Il-76, and one An-22 heavy transports in a combat ready state. He says Russia has 26 An-124, but only four in a serviceable, flyable condition.

Other sources report a nominal (not necessarily operational) inventory of nine An-124, 89 Il-76, and five An-22 aircraft.

In http://nvo.ng.ru/forces/2018-08-10/7_1008_ruslan.html]NVO recently, Aleksandr Khramchikhin concluded VTA has about 15 An-124 and An-22 and about 90 Il-76 transports along with some 160 medium transports (mainly An-12 and An-26).

DIA’s recent Russian Military Power pub said virtually nothing about VTA as a power projection resource (probably wise), but it wrote that Russia has “122 heavy transports” which pushes the outer limit of reality.

The USAF has 45 C-5, 222 C-17, and probably 350 C-130 transports in various configurations.

Khramchikhin puts this in context:

“The enormous size of American transport aviation is explained by the global missions standing before the U.S. Armed Forces, especially since all these missions have to be carried out beyond North America. We have no such scope although, as events in Syria show, it fully well may appear sooner or later. But the scale of our own country in conjunction with the configuration of Russian territory (strongly stretched in a latitudinal direction in distinction from the almost square U.S.) and the difficulty of accessing most of it requires a very large VTA. We can have 6-7 thousand km between point A and point B inside our own country and point B can be in such a place where literally ‘it’s only possible to go by plane.’ So 250 transport planes (of which the larger half are medium and light) is little for us since the majority of them (all An-12 and An-22, a signficant part of Il-76 and An-26) have gotten very outdated. In addition, our VTA is very strangely deployed on the country’s territory — in gigantic Siberia and the Far East, which are almost entirely inaccessible regions, there is only the 257th Transport Regiment with 12 aged An-12 and 5 An-26 medium planes located in the very extreme south-east ‘corner’ of this super-region! The largest VDV in the world also require a much larger quantity of more modern transport aircraft.”

But back to Falichev . . . .

Falichev concludes that even optimal production of the Il-76MD-90A (Il-476) won’t replace the existing Il-76 inventory in the new future. There is, he claims, a replacement for the An-124 contained in GPV 2018-2027. Nevertheless, there remains a “real risk of a sharp decline” in the numbers of Russian VTA aircraft. And in combat readiness also. Syria and other contingencies, he continues, demonstrate the is high demand for the capabilities of a transport like the An-124.

With due respect to Messrs. Falichev and Khramchikhin, Moscow might live without new VTA aircraft. It’s not able to acquire everything to modernize its armed forces. Trade-offs are inevitable. VTA might be one. Russia’s rail network provides good internal lines-of-communication. Russia is more likely to fight regional conflicts along its periphery than far-flung wars. That its military could operate without new VTA is a debatable proposition, but one that should be, and likely is being, debated in Moscow.

Supposedly the PAK TA will be able to transport Russia’s new generation armor — Armata, Kurganets-25, etc. It might be ready for series production in 2027 in an optimistic scenario. In a realistic one, there are lots of obstacles.

Former Deputy Defense Minister and arms tsar, now Deputy PM and arms tsar, Yuriy Borisov has not only rained on renewed An-124 production, but also said R&D for PAK TA won‘t even begin until 2025. Its PD-35 engines won’t be ready before 2027. He has said modernized An-124s could fly until almost 2040.

So Falichev and others are left largely in the same place — modernizing the existing inventory of transports.

Here are some of his more squirrelly figures. He says the VTA maintains the fitness of the inventory at 56 percent — more than 131 of 200 aircraft are serviceable, 41 percent of Il-76s, 36 percent of An-124s, 17 percent of An-22s. None of these numbers track with the foregoing. Suffice it to say that readiness, serviceability, and OOB figures are notoriously spongy. It’s hard to say who’s counting and what they’re counting.

Falichev writes that Russian transports are simply being overworked. In 2016, the Il-76 force reached its annual flight hours target of about 24,000 in June and went on to get 150 percent of the goal for the year. This tracks with lots of past reports indicating that VTA pilots have no problem getting their flight hours.

VTA isn’t getting nearly enough maintenance money in the state defense order. In 2016, it paid for only 9 percent of the necessary parts and components. Less than that was actually received, according to Falichev. That amount was reduced in 2017 when there were plans to refurbish only nine transports.

The production and repair of D-30KP-2 engines for Il-76s is insufficient. Falichev says the annual requirement is 120 of them. He claims there’s a plan to acquire more than 500 of them by 2024.

Falichev claims Russia’s An-124s get only two percent of the financing needed to service them. Their D-18T engines are a problem since they’re now a foreign product (Motor Sich in Ukraine). And AO UZGA in Yekaterinburg hasn’t mastered their repair. Perhaps because they aren’t getting paid to do it? Obviously an import-substitute is needed here.

So he sums it up:

“As we see, the problems are serious enough that they can’t be solved with a wave of the hand. It’s no wonder in Rus they say: the peasant doesn’t cross himself until it thunders.”

In other words, Moscow may have put off action on VTA until it’s too late.

To remedy VTA’s woes, Falichev calls for GOZ financing sufficient to maintain transport aircraft, their engines, and components at an acceptable level. He advocates funding to repair 12 D-18T, 8 NK-12MA (for An-22), and 112 D-30KP-2 engines. He says the quality of Il-76 maintenance at Novgorod’s AO 123 ARZ needs to improve. His entire “to-do” list is longer.

Falichev concludes:

“These are only the most essential measures. The state needs a long-term, systematic aviation development program, not just for military but also civilian aviation. Without it, Russia will stop calling itself an aviation power and will continue flying in ‘Boeings’ and ‘Airbuses.'”

And this is really the crux. Moscow doesn’t seem to have a priority on fixing VTA, but it won’t give up on it either because that would imply giving up on its larger aviation industry to some degree.