Ilyushin Il-106 PAK VTA

The Ilyushin Il-106 Slon (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-106 Слон, lit. 'Elephant') is a Russian next-generation heavy military transport aircraft, currently under development by Ilyushin within the PAK VTA programme (Russian: ПАК ВТА, short for: Перспективный авиационный комплекс Военно-транспортной авиации, romanized: Perspektivnyy aviatsionnyy kompleks Voyenno-transportnoy aviatsii, lit. ''Prospective Aviation Complex of Military Transport Aviation''). Not to be confused with the cancelled Ilyushin Il-106 of the nineties.[2][3][1] The aircraft is intended to replace the Antonov An-22 and the Antonov An-124 heavy airlifter in Russia's Air Force service.

"Il-106" redirects here. For the road, see Illinois Route 106.
PAK VTA
Role Heavy transport aircraft
National origin Russia
Manufacturer Ilyushin
First flight 2024–2026[1]
Status Under development
Primary user Russian Air Force
Developed from Ilyushin Il-106

Development

The project was first presented under PAK TA designation with goal to develop a blended wing body,[4] super-heavy transport plane being able to fly at supersonic speed while carrying up to 200 tons of cargo, and partially using renewable electric energy.[4] 80 aircraft were planned to be built by 2024.[5]

In 2016, General Director of Ilyushin Company Sergei Velmozhkin reported the project was officially named Il-106, designation previously applied to a cancelled Ilyushin transport plane of the 1990s.[3]

In December 2018, Russian Defence Ministry announced the aircraft will actually be a deeply updated version of the cancelled Ilyushin Il-106 transport aircraft.[1] According to Chief Designer of Ilyushin Company Nikolai Talikov, Il-106 is currently deep in development and will be updated with new avionics, engines, and other critical systems.[6] The first flight is scheduled for 2024-2026.[1]

In May 2019, Ilyushin has finished R&D works on the aircraft and contract for further development has been signed.[7]

On 5 November 2019, Russia's Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) released pictures of a wind tunnel Il-106 model, showing that, contrarily to what was previously thought, the design of the new cargo plane will not be based on the Il-106 project of the 1990s.[8][9] On 26 March 2020, TsAGI released new pictures of a wind tunnel model, indicating that the researchers of the Institute had completed the first cycle of aerodynamic testing of the model.[10] The obtained results confirmed the calculated characteristics laid down at the stage of preliminary studies. If the PAK VTA design is approved by the Russian authorities, Ilyushin hopes to start the development of the first prototype in 2020, for a serial production before 2027.[11]

On 4 August 2020, Izvestia reported that the Russian Ministry of Defence approved the tactical and technical requirements of the PAK VTA. The PAK VTA project should be ready by December 2020, so that experimental design work (R&D) on the project can begin in 2021.[12]

Characteristics

The Il-106 is expected to be able to lift up to 180 tons of cargo (60 tons more than the An-124). According to the approved requirements, the new military transport aircraft should be able to refuel in the air and carry at least 80 tons of cargo at a distance of 5000 kilometers. The length of the cargo compartment of the aircraft must be at least 27.5 meters, the width must be 8.8 meters, and the height 4.4 meters[13]. PAK VTA should be powered by four Aviadvigatel PD-35 turbofans - an improved derivative of the still-in-development PD-14 engine [9], with a thrust of 20-25 thousand kgf. The flight altitude of the aircraft should be up to 12 thousand meters, with a cruising speed of 850 km/h.[14]


See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References
  1. Rogoway, Tyler (29 December 2018). "Russia Wants To Replace Its Giant An-124 Airlifters With Updated Decades-Old Design". The Drive. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  2. "PAK VTA". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  3. Trimble, Stephen (8 September 2016). "Russia widens scope for future large military transport project". Flight Global. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  4. "Future Russian army could deploy anywhere in the world – in 7 hours". rt.com. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  5. "Look At This Ridiculous Russian Supersonic Cargo Plane Concept". popsci.com. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  6. ""Мы сделаем шаг вперёд": главный конструктор ПАО "Ил" о замене "Руслана" и модернизации транспортной авиации РФ — РТ на русском". russian.rt.com. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  7. "Ilyushin Aviation Complex signs contract for development of heavy cargo aircraft". airrecogniton.com. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  8. "В ЦАГИ изготовлена аэродинамическая модель большегрузного транспортного самолета "Слон"". Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  9. Rogoway, Tyler (5 November 2019). "Russia Shows Wind Tunnel Model Of An "Elephant" Airlifter Replacement For The An-124". The Drive. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  10. http://www.tsagi.ru/pressroom/news/4781/
  11. https://www.meta-defense.fr/2019/09/03/letude-prealable-du-programme-davions-de-transport-lourd-russe-pak-vta-sera-terminee-en-2020/
  12. https://iz.ru/1043474/anton-lavrov-roman-kretcul/gruzovik-vysokogo-poleta-rossiia-gotovit-zamenu-124-i-22
  13. https://iz.ru/1043474/anton-lavrov-roman-kretcul/gruzovik-vysokogo-poleta-rossiia-gotovit-zamenu-124-i-22
  14. https://iz.ru/1043474/anton-lavrov-roman-kretcul/gruzovik-vysokogo-poleta-rossiia-gotovit-zamenu-124-i-22
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