Russia is reportedly planning to start development of its new medium military transport aircraft in 2020, a military representative told the Defence Blog on 25 January.

According to the source, Russian Armed Forces is the intention shortly to sign an agreement to develop new medium military transport aircraft with JSC “Ilyushin”  (part of United Aircraft Corporation). Russia plans to replace obsolete Soviet-designed An-12 and An-72 military transport aircraft in service with the Russian Armed Forces.

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The new medium military transport aircraft, called the Ilyushin Il-276, is a project of a two-engine, medium-lift military transport aircraft with a payload up to 20 tons at a range of 2 000 km at speeds of 750-800 km/h. The Il-276 can be operated at high-elevation aerodromes and on artificial runaways and dirt air strips, at any geographical and climatic conditions, at any time of the day, in adverse weather conditions.

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The first aircraft are supposed to be equipped with PS-90A-76 engines, in the future, the aircraft can get a new engine model PD-14. Production of new aircraft will be started at the Aviastar Plant in Ulyanovsk.

Currently, Specialists of the Zhukovsky Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI, a member of the National Research Center “Zhukovsky Institute”) testing the aerodynamic characteristics of a model of Il-276 high-lift wing aircraft. A detailed data analysis will identify the ways to improve the layout of the aircraft.

As has been reported previously, the first Ilyushin Il-276 prototype is expected to perform its maiden test flight by 2023 to 2024.