The Military-industrial Scientific Research System of the Academic Master Chapter 148

Chapter 148 Ilyushin's Ambition

Originally, Lozko and the Ilyushin Company team he led were not here to “participate” in the air show, but to protect the air show.

They did not bring any models planned for the exhibition, only an Il-76 transport aircraft carrying aviation materials and personnel and an Il-78M tanker used to provide fuel to the exhibiting aircraft.

But that doesn't mean Ilyushin doesn't want to do something at the air show.

China purchased 14 IL-76 transport aircraft from Russia in two batches in the early 1990s to form a strategic transport fleet of the Air Force.

But this transaction has nothing to do with Ilyushin Company. All 14 aircraft were delivered directly from the Russian army's active equipment.

The plane was sold, but no money was made.

In fact, at this time, the Russian Federation still has some concerns about exporting such a large transport aircraft with a take-off weight of 200 tons.

But Ilyushin Company had no worries, or in other words, it was too late to worry.

Seeing that Sukhoi and Mili (which designs and produces Mi 8/17/171 helicopters) were resurrected on the spot with the large orders signed with China, they not only restarted the development of new models, but even started to develop helicopters in Novosibirsk. The aircraft manufacturer has opened a new production line, and Ilyushin is also jealous.

The main reason is that the problems they face are more troublesome than all other peers -

As its absolute flagship product, the final assembly workshop of the IL-76 is not in Russia, but in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

In the past, everyone was from the same country. The design bureau was in Moscow and the manufacturing plant was in Tashkent. There was no problem. The right was to upgrade the industry in remote and backward areas.

But it's different now.

First of all, after the disintegration of the alliance, the situation of several Stanton countries is much worse than that of Russia. If the assembly plant is allowed to continue to be abandoned, then the Tashkent plant will probably not be able to produce new Il-76s in another two years.

Secondly, just earlier this year, Uzbekistan and NATO entered into a "Separate Partnership Plan", showing a tendency that worries Moscow.

For insurance purposes, Ilyushin Company plans to build a new Il-76 final assembly line at the Voyager SP factory in Ulyanovsk to absorb workers from Tashkent.

And this takes time and money.

The best way is to find a customer, a big customer, and sell more than ten or twenty brand-new IL-76s.

This way, we can retain the workers in Tashkent to buy time, and get enough funds to build new production lines.

But there is a huge obstacle to this approach.

IL76 was too successful.

As a strategic transport aircraft, the Il-76's take-off and landing requirements are almost as low as those of tactical transport aircraft, and it can even use non-paved runways.

Simply put, it has the load capacity of C141 and the usage conditions and cost of C130.

Hence, more than 850 were built.

All other strategic transport aircraft models in the world combined do not reach this number.

But now, after the disintegration of the Russian Air Force, there is no need for so many strategic transport aircraft.

So the biggest opponent of Ilyushin Design Bureau today is itself before 1991.

The only way is to promote new models.

Now, Ilyushin Company finally sees an opportunity.

The Il-78M is a large aerial tanker designed based on the Il-76 platform.

Compared with the old model IL-78, its biggest feature is the redesign of almost the entire wing box structure and the elimination of the cargo door at the rear, which greatly increases the fuel capacity and also loses the cost of removing the oil storage tank. The guest transport aircraft has the ability to carry cargo. More importantly, it could not be modified from the IL-76 and was produced in very small numbers before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the video of the flight show just shown, Lozcot specifically observed that the nose part of the J-8C was equipped with a non-retractable fuel pipe.

Obviously, this shows that the Chinese Air Force has a need to expand the combat radius of fighter jets.

During the Soviet period, the aerial tanker Figure 16N modified from the Figure 16 was also equipped. Therefore, Lozko knew very well that the limit of this model was less than 20 tons of oil. If the refueling area was slightly further away, the oil volume could easily drop to Below 10 tons, it basically only has symbolic aerial refueling capabilities.

And the Ilyushin 78M's maximum oil delivery capacity is 106 tons…

85 tons even at a distance of 1,000 kilometers.

Who can resist an air nanny with this capacity?

In fact, what Lozko wants to sell to China is a deeply improved model of the IL-76, the IL-76MF.

It is equipped with four PS90A engines of the same model as the Tu 214, the fuselage is lengthened by 6.6 meters, the maximum payload is increased from 48 tons to 60 tons, and it still has an astonishing range of up to 5200km at the maximum load.

More importantly, its prototype completed its first flight last year, and it is by no means a piece of cake.

It's a pity that I didn't bring it with me this time.

“Tell me what you think?”

Pogosyan turned and looked at Lozko behind him.

“We can divide the flight show into two parts.” Lozko organized his words a little and said:

“First of all, the Su-27 alone will carry the minimum amount of fuel and conduct the first part of the flight performance.”

“Then let our IL-78M tanker take off and refuel the Su-27 in the air at the air show. After the refueling is completed, we will perform the second part of the performance.”

Originally, neither the single-seat Su-27S nor the two-seat Su-27UB were designed with fuel pipes.

The same applies to the previous aircraft named Su-30 but essentially just Su-27UB with a different livery.

But this time at the Xiangzhou Air Show, Sukhoi brought two aircraft belonging to the Gromov Test Flight Institute, not the Russian Air Force—

They all happen to have the ability to receive oil in the air.

“Aerial refueling?”

The representative of the Tupolev Design Bureau next to him scratched his head: "What is there to perform? Although it is very difficult, I think most people may not be able to feel it."

Of course Lozko couldn't clearly say that he was trying to demonstrate the performance of his own aircraft:

“As far as I know, the Chinese Air Force has only put into service the first aerial tanker modified from the Tu-16 last year. The number is small and the performance is not enough.”

“So, whether it is for ordinary people in China, the Chinese military, or even aviation technicians, aerial refueling is a very new thing. Many people should have never seen such a scene in the past.”

“Air shows are about one person having nothing but oneself, and having others has oneself is the best, so my method will definitely work very well.”

This explanation was perfect, and no one could think of a better way for a while, so they all agreed.

“Very good, then I will contact the air show organizer early tomorrow morning and make some changes to the afternoon performance schedule.”

Pogosian said as he took out a notebook from his pocket, wrote down the contents of Lozko's proposal, and then raised his head again:

“Also, before the meeting ends, I have one more informal matter that I would like to hear your opinions on.”

(End of this chapter)

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