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Russia announced on Tuesday that by the end of this month it will deploy the latest version of its giant command and control aircraft designated for use during nuclear war or national disasters. The flying command center will be able to coordinate the worldwide operations of its ground, naval, air and missile forces, including nuclear weapons, as well as the country's satellites. Russian military sources said that the Ilyushin-80 jet would be used when the command infrastructure is disrupted due to a nuclear war, or when ground communication systems are absent. The sources said the plane will be permanently staffed...

India selects Airbus Military MRTT for six-aircraft deal India has selected the Airbus Military A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) as its preferred bid for a six aircraft requirement to supply the nation's air force. Airbus Military says it expects the deal to be finalised later this year. The decision follows a flight test campaign carried out in India where the aircraft was used to refuel multiple fighter types and also performed operations from high-altitude air bases. The European type had faced competition from the Ilyushin Il-78MK, offered via Russia's Rosoboronexport arms agency. Domingo Ureña Raso, Airbus Military chief executive, says:...

Indian tanker contest draws Airbus, Ilyushin bids, but Boeing stays away By Greg Waldron Airbus Military and Ilyushin have submitted bids in India's revived competition for six in-flight refuelling aircraft, while Boeing remains on the sidelines. A New Delhi-based source close to the competition confirms that the Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) is in contention for the requirement, along with the Ilyushin Il-78 tanker. The Indian air force already has an active fleet of seven Il-78MKs, says Flightglobal's MiliCAS database. Details on India's selection schedule are unclear, however. "There is no decision on the horizon," says the source. ©...

One morning last July, a Russian-made military plane landed at an airport near this Lake Superior town. Nine men with foreign accents disembarked. Some went off to eat and shop. When they returned, a flock of federal agents and local police were waiting. Five men were taken to jail. The plane, an Ilyushin IL-78, had come from Texas, bound for Pakistan. "All of us were trying to figure out what they were picking up or smuggling," says Cheryl Hill, assistant prosecutor of Marquette County. Capt. David Lemire of the Marquette County Sheriff's Office says, "People to this day still ask,...

Huge cargo plane uses ALLLLL of the runway for take air. Not sure the Aussie air traffic controllers want this out, but it's been around some......the IL-76 takes 1 million pounds air bourne.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. isn’t planning to bid for the Pentagon’s $35 billion Air Force aerial-refueling tanker program, Chief Executive Officer Alexei Fyodorov said, contradicting U.S. media reports. The Wall Street Journal reported March 19 that United Aircraft, the maker of Ilyushin transport planes, was preparing a bid to be announced as early as today. The Washington Post also wrote about the plan on March 20. Both media reports cited John Kirkland, an attorney at Luce Forward in Los Angeles who said a venture would be announced between United Aircraft and a small, unidentified U.S. defense contractor on March 22...

Here's the latest twist in the Air Force tanker saga: The Russians are coming. Russia's government-owned aerospace company will announce Monday it is competing against Boeing for the $40 billion refueling-tanker contract, a Los Angeles attorney for the company said Friday. United Aircraft of Moscow plans to unveil a U.S. partner and offer a modified version of its Ilyushin Il-96 wide-body plane, said John Kirkland, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the group. The still-unidentified partner, "a U.S. public company and existing defense contractor," would assemble the planes in the U.S., he said. The Russian interest in the tanker bid was...

A passenger plane has burst into flames on landing at an airport in northern Iran, killing at least 17 passengers, state media has reported. The burning plane skidded off the runway of the airport in the city of Mashhad, said the IRNA news agency. At least another 19 people were injured in the incident and the remaining passengers were evacuated. The crash comes 10 days after another plane crash in northern Iran, in which 168 people died. The Aria Airlines plane involved in Friday's blaze had flown from Tehran to Mashhad with 153 people on board. It was reported to...

Sea Dragon Wrecks Ilyushin Aircraft India hasn’t accepted Russia’s Il-38 jets with the Sea Dragon navigation system and suspended the payments under the contract sealed by Rosoboronexport and executed by Ilyushin Aircraft Construction Company. The result of delay could be the failure of Rosoboronexport in the tender that India holds to choose eight new antisubmarine jets. India has suspended the payments under $150-million contract with Russia for upgrading five Il-38 patrol aircraft by new search-and-track Sea Dragon system, said sources with defense and industrial complex of Russia. The Indians claim Sea Dragon failed to correspond to the technical design assignment...

Atlant-Soyuz has agreed a deal with lessor Ilyushin Finance to take four more Ilyushin Il-96-400T freighters, to add to the pair of aircraft to which it committed in 2005. The first two are being prepared by the VASO plant in Voronezh for delivery later this year. Atlant-Soyuz general manager Vladimir Davydov says the first Il-96-400T is due to make its maiden flight on 20 July. Aeroflot signed a memorandum of understanding in March for six Il-96-400Ts, but has yet to make a prepayment to firm up the order. Meanwhile, VASO is completing production of the short-fuselage Il-96-300 with the planned...

The luxury plane was exported to Havana from Russia Cuba is buying one of Russia's most up-to-date airliners, carefully crafted for President Fidel Castro's personal comfort. The purchase is part of an initial Cuban order for two brand new Ilyushin planes worth $110 million (£63 million) which Russian officials say is a shot in the arm for their struggling airline industry. To head off criticism that a new presidential jet is an expensive luxury in austere times, Cuba says one of its new planes is being used to ferry workers to and from Venezuela. To finance the deal, Cuba has...

Just two years ago, the Hayman Fire roared through the Rockies, blackening 138,000 acres and destroying more than 130 homes. It cost roughly $240 million to fight. Did that fire have to grow to that size? Did that many homes have to burn? 7NEWS Investigator Tony Kovaleski has exposed a troubling trail of conflict and red tape inside the U.S. Forest Service. Earlier this month, after years of problems, the Forest Service grounded its fleet of air tankers. 7NEWS asks: has the government wasted taxpayer money on outdated, dangerous and underperforming aircraft while ignoring bigger, faster and newer technology? Twenty-three...

Bad weather is being cited as the prime cause of Iran’s worst air disaster, in which an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft crashed in a mountainous region of southeast Iran yesterday evening, killing all 302 people on board. However, a glance at Jane’s reference data suggests that overloading of the aircraft may well have been a contributory factor. As of yesterday, the Iranian military had around 15 Il-76MD ‘Candid-Bs’ in service, many of which were originally in Iraq’s inventory and were impounded by Iran following the exodus of Baghdad’s military air assets after the launch of Operation ‘Desert Storm’ in...