RuAviation

The concept of development of the Russian Navy aviation, which pays much attention to the Arctic, has been approved, and in accordance with which a new anti-submarine aircraft will be created. This was announced by Andrey Pakhomov, head of naval aviation of the Russian Navy, on air of the programme Military Acceptance on the Zvezda TV channel.

“The implementation of this concept will begin soon. It will be the receipt of modern aviation equipment, development of airfield infrastructure, we will pay more attention to the Arctic, because it is one of the promising tasks both for the fleet and for the whole country,” said Andrei Pakhomov.

The new concept envisages the creation of a new anti-submarine aircraft, Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Yevmenov has already approved its scheme. “The goals and objectives for these aircraft are all there,” Pakhomov said.

The chief of naval aviation specified that the aircraft is not supersonic, will fly at both low and high speeds. “Will be used in the near sea zone, will also be able to operate in the far sea zone,” he added.

Earlier it became known that development work has begun on the creation of a basic anti-submarine, reconnaissance and patrol aircraft to replace the Il-38. On the new machine will expand the range of weapons, the range of ammunition will be greater. The new aircraft will retain the standard for aircraft of this class four-engine scheme, it is planned to be equipped with TV7-117 turboprop engines.

At present, the Russian Navy’s maritime aviation uses the Il-38 medium-range anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, based on the Il-18 passenger liner. The serial production of the IL-38 was carried out at the Znamya Truda plant in Moscow (now Production Complex No. 2 of RSC MiG) between 1967 and 1972, a total of 65 aircraft were produced. In addition, several aircraft were built at the pilot production facility of the S.V. Ilyushin Design Bureau, and some of them were handed over to the military after being tested. For more than half a century in the Navy aviation Il-38 has been operating practically accident-free. The overwhelming majority of the produced aircraft (up to 60 units) continue to be in the Navy aviation, including several machines in India.

In February 2017, during the Aero India 2017 aerospace exhibition, it was reported that the Il-114-300 turboprop passenger aircraft is being considered as a platform for the development of next-generation anti-submarine aircraft to replace the Il-38. The Il-114 maritime patrol variant can be equipped with the same Novella complex, which will not require much effort in retraining flight and maintenance personnel. And its flight performance characteristics, which are close and even slightly superior to those of the IL-38, will allow to use new tactical methods of search and destruction of enemy submarines, developed by the IL-38N crews.

The IL-114-300 is also being considered by the Russian Air Force command as a replacement for the IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft. In December 2017, it was reported that tactical and technical requirements for a new reconnaissance aircraft based on the IL-114-300 were being developed. It is expected that work on the new vehicle will begin as soon as the new passenger aircraft starts flying.