Russia is not the USSR and it does not have the industrial capacity or the human resources to make aircraft of all segments, not even in the civil sector, much less in the military. And less in a capitalist system limited by money.
An-124s made money... Il-76s made money too... dare I say it new replacement aircraft for the An-12 and An-22 and other types will also make money as well as fill the needs of the Russian military and also militaries around the world.
They also aren't able to repair and fly enough An-124s that Shoigu requires, so forget that they're going to make any more new full-size aircraft from scratch before 2040 at the earliest, and that's thinking Russia win the war, recover and continue to develop normally
They are building more airliners over the next decade than they have in the last three decades, it always happens that when there is a change there is a shortage of trained experts... in two or three years more people will be trained up to meet the needs and everything will be fine.
They are going to need ship makers too because the number of civilian cargo ships and tankers and gas carriers they will need is enormous, and Navy ships to support their operations around the world, they are going to be very busy, but they have low debt and lots of resources... I suspect some professional people from Europe might want to move to Russia because Europe wont be making many aircraft or ships because you need light and electricity and heat to live well...
Yes, Russia will take back Ukraine and Russia will take back the Antonov brand (this is the design office and the patents).
I don't think it will. (take back the Antonov brand).
Polikarpov is a dead company and Lavochkin is no longer involved in fighter aircraft, it is time for Tupolev and Ilyusion to step up and Myasishchev to get back into the game so to speak.
The factories and personnel are already in Russia, Ulyanovsk manufactured and repaired the An-124, Voronezh manufactured the An-148 and Samara the An-140.
Makes no sense to build obsolete foreign designs when they have design bureaus that can design new designs that take advantage of new technology and materials and experience of operating these types for a few decades.
The Russian military has different loads and different needs...
Russia's intention is not to spend more resources than necessary, that is why it has put the money into strategic deterrence, missiles, submarines, etc...
The rest of the world needs replacements for these Soviet types just like Russia does and it would boost trade and relations if they had products they could sell to replace that equipment too.
How many Galaxy does the USAF operate, two squadrons, that is 36.
Is the USA going to build a replacement for the Galaxy?
ANd this is USA, that needs to cross oceans
HATO was heavily dependent on An-124s leased from various companies... if the Galaxy was a better aircraft they would use it more.
Politics and corruption led to them buying way too many C-17s which is the core of their inventory for no other reason than jobs and votes for congressmen on budget allocation committees.
Russia does not need and cannot make substitutes for the An-124, much less make two new heavy aircraft. Il-106 and SLon are olny pictures in a paper as many other designs like fantastic nuclear carriers and others
They don't need to make both right away, and it would make sense to make the Il-106 first with two PD-35 engines as it would be cheaper than An-124s with about 80-85% of its normal payload capacity over useful ranges... it would be useful like the An-22 was.
Which raises the obvious question... why not a replacement for the An-22 that uses the same turboprop engines they are updating for the Bear...
An Il-106 with four turboprop engines from the Tu-95 would be interesting... perhaps with two sets of contra-rotating blades more like the propfan for the An-70... 8 blades on the front propeller disk and 6 on the back disk...
If a project of this big size is made it will be because there is a need in the civil market and then a military/double purpose version is made, but in Russia today there is not.
And if it were done, it would be in collaboration with China or India, with a potential market that justifies the project.
The idea is to minimise the risk by using scalability with the engines... so the twin and four engined Il-276 and Il-476, with basically the same planes with shorter wings and shorter fuselage in the twin engined version... and the same with the twin engined Il-106 and the four engined Slon... or the Slon designed could be shortened and made with smaller wings and only two engines in a mini Slon design to minimise cost and risks... I mean look at airliners that are stretched to carry more passengers cheaply without having to design a new aircraft... it is normal.
So the best option is to return the An-124 production in ULyanovsk and improve it, engines, materials, etc...
I disagree, there are no other aircraft that could use 24-25 ton thrust engines so it does not make sense to make PD-25s just to keep some old planes flying.
In addition, the priority for Russia is to replace the An-12, which is running out and there are no expectations of a new design substitute.
It is quite suspicious that the Il-276 was canceled precisely last year, probably thinking that after the war they will be able to manufacture Antonovs such as An-178 or An-70
Antonov is dead... let it go.
I rather suspect they anticipated western sanctions and therefore putting civilian airliners into production to crash fill the gaps... before the Il-276 idea was the Tu-330 based on the Tu-204/214 design... if the latter are going back into production then it makes sense to look at the Tu-330 again and the increased cargo capacity of 35 tons is actually a real bonus because their armour is going to get heavier, with Boomerang and Typhoon types in the 30-35 ton weight range.
Still I do not understand how they called it a replacement for the An12. Each of the four engines is way more powerful than the engines of the An12 (almost 14000hp of the D27 vs 4000hp of the Ai20).
You get to sell more if it replaces the An-12 than if it just replaces the Il-76 in use by the VDV who wanted a slower aircraft for dropping troops and equipment....
Anyway Russia needs a new cargo aircraft in the 20-30 tons payload range (and possibly one on the 10-12 tons payload range) much more than a An-124 replacement.
I totally agree here, and would also say the Il-106 as a replacement for the An-22 would be more useful to take pressure off the An-124 in Russian service too...
At the moment the il 276 is much more a paper aircrafts (and with unconvincing specs, like much worse payload and range than the Embraer C--390, which has engines with similar thrust levels) than the An70.
The concept is good though, whereby Il-76 customers might buy the smaller aircraft for smaller jobs because of commonality... a scaled down shorter aircraft with smaller wings and two engines but the same cross section... makes sense if they can make it affordable.
Russia was "forced" to develop a new generation of internal systems for its civilian passengers. I am sure this investment can also benefit the cargo planes.
This will be a good reward for KRET because 5th columnist foreign CEOs of Russian airlines can't substitute western avionics in Russian airliners because that is what the customer wants bullshit.
The il106 is a nice plane, but as you said it is on paper only
It was seriously developed and the engines were impressive till it was killed by the Clintons and also Ukrainian interests...
Anyway as they have problems on il112, they should maximize efficiency to bring up the number of heavy lift transports by reactivation production of an124
That is not how it works... you don't fix problems with your bicycle and moped and motor bike being in the shop by buying an articulated truck...
This would allow il76 fleet to perform with high efficiency , and let an124 supplement heavy carrying missions
What they would really benefit from is a niche aircraft like the An-22 with its four huge turboprops that filled the gap between the Il-76 (40 tons) and the An-124 (120 tons), with an 80 ton payload capacity over decent ranges.
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