Refuelling Tankers for RuAF

Yeah... I heard they were buying Il-96s for the purpose... didn't know any were ready yet.

And my idea of using them for DA (strategic aviation) still stands....

GarryB wrote:Yeah... I heard they were buying Il-96s for the purpose... didn't know any were ready yet.

And my idea of using them for DA (strategic aviation) still stands....  

There was an article in one of the last AFM about the fact that the two first IL-96-400TZ (RA-96101/96103 ex POLET aircrafts) would surely be followed by a few more. At least, it has been discussed... the proposed specifications (still to be confirmed so) of the birds making them really interesting for DA.

Future will tell

Assembly of the first tanker aircraft Il-78M-90A in "Aviastar-SP" plant



The workshops took place in Ulyanovsk plant dock fuselage sections Il-78M-90A. According to plans, the first flight of the aircraft-tanker will be performed in 2016. On this first flight, model will pass the state tests. It is expected that upon their results will be awarded a state contract for the supply of Il-78M-90A to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

"The goal for 2016 - is to raise the IL-78M-90A in the air, - says Director General of" Aviastar-SP "Sergey Dementiev. - This is the first flight model, which will be held on the state tests. Based on the results we hope to obtain a contract for the supply of tankers."

Production of the first flight IL-78M-90A is conducted under a contract with the Defense Ministry to carry out development work on advanced tanker aircraft. Building under the aircraft will be the first tanker produced in Russia. Before that, all the aircraft IL-78 were collected in Uzbekistan at the Tashkent aircraft plant.

Il-78M-90A is a modification of military transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A. Upon request, maintained the possibility of use as a military transport plane: there is a ramp, landing equipment, and if necessary can be installed fire extinguishing equipment on the aircraft will be established Fueling equipment: two additional fuel tanks with a capacity of 50 tons each in the cargo compartment, as well as standardized units pendant refueling - two on one wing and in the aft fuselage.

Tanker is equipped with four engines of the new generation PS-90A-76. Specific fuel consumption of the engine PS-90A-76 to 12-14% lower fuel consumption of the engine D-30KP. Design and development of design documentation, manufacture of aircraft is based on digital technology.
After completion of the docking bay of the fuselage Il-78M-90A company specialists started to dock an aircraft wing. The new modification of the IL will be the main tanker aircraft adapted for refueling ships far, the front-line and specialized aircraft.

"Recently we came to the commander of the military transport aircraft, - says Sergey Dementiev. - We talked with him, that the demand for tankers is. Ministry of Defense need about 30 of these aircraft. "

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1716122.html

when did air to air refuelling start with VVS and PVO ?
In the soviet times were the mig-29 equipped with air to air refuelling probes ?

nastle77 wrote:when did air to air refuelling start with VVS and PVO ?
In the soviet times were the mig-29 equipped with air to air refuelling probes ?

First real tries were made with Tupolev Tu-4 in mid 50s, however it never entered serial production as a tanker. First real tanker in USSR was Tu-16Z and later Tu-16N in late 50s and early 60s. Tu-16Z was however considered mostly as failure due to its unusual and very dangerous refueling method wing-to-wing, Tu-16N used "common" probe and drogue system, some Tu-16Z were converted into Tu-16N but designated NN. Worth mentioning that they were used only to refuel Tu-22 bombers at that time.



In mid 60s you had M-4-2 which was converted Myasishchev M4 and even later during 70s Myasishchev 3MS-2 which was converted M6.

When its about MiG29, answer is yes, BUT, only very, very few had that capability back then. Mostly only those that they predicted might end up being used with their nuclear strike capabilities. MiG-29SMT is i belive first variant to feature refueling probe on all borts. Not even all MiG-31s had refueling probe, USSR mainly used their tanker fleet to support bombers TU22D, TU22M and TU95.
TU95

The only aircraft regularly fitted with inflight refuelling probes were strategic bombers... ie Tu-95, Tu-142, Tu-160, and long range interceptors like the MiG-31 and long range strike aircraft like the Su-24.

very few tactical fighters and fighter bombers had them, though new designs had them for export.

For highly populated areas the MiG-29 has plenty of range for the area they cover and for more sparsely populated areas the Su-27 has enormous range potential and for most of its missions flew with half empty internal fuel tanks.

Only long range aviation used inflight refuelling aircraft.

They developed the capability for inflight refuelling at the same time everyone else did... they just never really had a need for it as they developed their aircraft for home defence... not foreign conquest.

nastle77 wrote:when did air to air refuelling start with VVS and PVO ?
In the soviet times were the mig-29 equipped with air to air refuelling probes ?

In Soviet times air refueling was for strategic bombers. First tactical jets wich receive IFR capabilities in the second half of the eighties were Su-24M and MiG-31B. Su-33, which was next come in the nineties in new Russia times.

First Russian-Made Aerial Refueling Tanker to Start Flight Tests in 2016

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20160324/1036883121/aircraft-russia-plane.html#ixzz43ysRyTfU

MiG-31DZ was around before MiG-31B was. No serial MiG-29's had IFR during soviet times. MiG-29M/K family had it, but they were prototypes. Same with the original Su-35 (T-10M). MiG-25 was tested with refuel probe and same with normal MiG-29's but again - prototypes.

How many Il-96 based tankers are ordered or planed to be build?

Berkut wrote:MiG-31DZ was around before MiG-31B was. No serial MiG-29's had IFR during soviet times. MiG-29M/K family had it, but they were prototypes. Same with the original Su-35 (T-10M). MiG-25 was tested with refuel probe and same with normal MiG-29's but again - prototypes.

I thought MiG29s that Moldova sold to US had refueling probes.

medo wrote:How many Il-96 based tankers are ordered or planed to be build?

I saw in some article that they ordered 2... but it was like 2 years ago.

medo wrote:How many Il-96 based tankers are ordered or planed to be build?

2x Il-96-400TZ ordered

George1 wrote:2x Il-96-400TZ ordered

Former Polet RA-96101 and RA-96103 birds.

Militarov wrote:

Berkut wrote:MiG-31DZ was around before MiG-31B was. No serial MiG-29's had IFR during soviet times. MiG-29M/K family had it, but they were prototypes. Same with the original Su-35 (T-10M). MiG-25 was tested with refuel probe and same with normal MiG-29's but again - prototypes.

I thought MiG29s that Moldova sold to US had refueling probes.

No. Those were just vanilla 9.13's. Which operationally never had them.

JSC "IL" began work on the modernization of tankers Il-78 of Russian VKS to version IL-78-2

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1908053.html

Russia Developing 'Transformer' Flying Tanker

Russia’s upcoming Il-96-400TZ flying tanker will also be able to haul cargoes and passengers, Ilyushin’s Deputy Chief Designer Olga Kruglyakova said in an interview with United Aircraft Corporation’s journal Horizon.

A long range jet liner Il-96-400 designed by the Sergey Ilyushin experimental design office. © Sputnik/ Alexander Polyakov Russian Military Gets Customized Il-96-400 'Doomsday Plane' “President Putin ordered us to continue our work on an aerial refueling tanker based on the Ilyushin Il-96 jumbo,” Kruglyakova said.

She added that the military also wants the plane to be able to move around cargo and passengers. In 2015 the Voronezh-based aircraft manufacturer VASO was ordered to build two such flying tankers for the Russian Aerospace Forces. The first such plane has already undergone preliminary trials.

“The initial test flights we had with fighter planes showed that the Il-96-400TZ is fully compatible with small aircraft. Just how compatible it is with bigger ones we’ll see during state trials,” Ilyushin’s Chief Designer Nikolai Talikov said.

The second test plane will be built in 2018. Both planes will be able to transport up to 65 tons of fuel across a range of 3,500 kilometers.

The Il-96-400TZ will be equipped with the Zvezda UPAZ-1 aerial refueling system, which has been previously proven on the Il-78 tanker flown by the Russian Air Force.

If the flying tankers built in Voronezh pass the tests, the plant will be given orders for an additional 30 such planes.

The Il-96 is also used as a platform for airborne command centers for the Federal Security Service and the Defense Ministry.

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/russia/201701161049648604-russia-plane-tanker/

Funny this "transformer" thing. Like if no other plane in the world could carry cargo and perform aerial refuelling, like KC-135 and KC-10A.

Svyatoslavich wrote:Funny this "transformer" thing. Like if no other plane in the world could carry cargo and perform aerial refuelling, like KC-135 and KC-10A.

A400M, A330 MRTT, KC-46 Pegasus...

Funny this "transformer" thing. Like if no other plane in the world could carry cargo and perform aerial refuelling, like KC-135 and KC-10A.

Are you trying to be a dick?

There was nothing in that article that suggested the new tankers being multirole was a unique or new thing... for anyone.

They are describing a feature request of the aircraft they are building. Nothing more.

GarryB wrote:

Funny this "transformer" thing. Like if no other plane in the world could carry cargo and perform aerial refuelling, like KC-135 and KC-10A.

Are you trying to be a dick?

There was nothing in that article that suggested the new tankers being multirole was a unique or new thing... for anyone.

They are describing a feature request of the aircraft they are building.  Nothing more.

The title suggests it. I don't know why you personally attack, me, though, over something I wrote months ago.

The first Il-78M-90A refueling aircraft was rolled out in Ulyanovsk

As reported by United Aircraft Building Corporation, on November 29, 2017, JSC Aviastar-SP (part of UAC) in Ulyanovsk rolled-out to the flight test station of the company completed the construction of the first prototype of the new Il-78M-90A refueling aircraft (serial number 02-01).



The construction of the first pilot flight model of the Il-78M-90A aircraft is carried out as part of a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to conduct experimental design work to create a promising tanker aircraft based on the Il-76MD-90A military transport aircraft as part of the R & -transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A and a prospective air-tanker at its base. "

At the request of the customer IL-78M-90A is convertible: the possibility of using it as a military transport aircraft has been preserved: there is a ramp, amphibious equipment, and if necessary, equipment for fire extinguishing can be installed. The fuel will be installed on the aircraft: two additional fuel tanks with capacity about 50 tons each inside the cargo cabin, as well as unified suspension refueling units - two on the wing and one in the tail of the fuselage. The aircraft is equipped with four PS-90A-76 engines.

According to the terms of the contract, flight tests of the first IL-78M-90A model were to be started in 2016.

To date, only five Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft have been built on Aviastar-SP, the last of which was launched in December 2015.



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/2977891.html

I thought MiG29s that Moldova sold to US had refueling probes.

You might be confusing them with the MiG-29Ns sold to Malaysia that did have IFR probes, but then they were exported models.

The title suggests it. I don't know why you personally attack, me, though, over something I wrote months ago.

The title suggests they are not just tankers but can also carry passengers and cargo. The article mentions that is a requirement of the design.

No where in the article does it mention that this feature is unique and that this aircraft is the first to feature it.

I mention it when I see it. If I had seen it earlier I would have mentioned it earlier.

Sorry you took it personally, I probably could have worded my response better.

Il-78M-90A tests due to finish by early 2019

The Ilyushin Bureau’s Chief Designer Nikolai Talikov designer could not specify the time, explaining it by unpredictable weather conditions in Russia

MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Tests of Russia’s advanced Ilyushin II-78M-90A tanker aircraft may be completed by late 2018 or early 2019, the Ilyushin Bureau’s Chief Designer Nikolai Talikov said in an interview with TASS on Saturday.

"These tests continue parallel with Il-76MD-90A, as those aircraft add to each other. All the completed tests would be a part of the tests for the new tanker aircraft, and thus the test term for the 78 model would be much shorter than for Il-76-MD-90A," he said. "I believe, the tests would be completed by end of this year (2018) - early next year (2019)."

The chief designer could not specify the time, explaining it by unpredictable weather conditions in Russia.

"We usually combine the maiden flight with a wide program of flights, but, if it is overcast, we’d rather not take additional risks," he said.

II-78M-90A will be the first tanker aircraft produced in Russia. The plane will receive three devices of the hose-and-drogue refueling system, with two of them on the outboard wings and one in the rear body on the right side.

The II-78M-90A will be able to refuel simultaneously two frontline planes. The tail unit is designed to refuel long-range and special aircraft. When the II-78M-90A is exploited on the ground, four aircraft can be refueled at a time.


More:
http://tass.com/defense/984956