MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The construction of two Ilyushin Il-112V light transport planes for the Russian Defense Ministry will begin in 2018, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) President Yury Slyusar told the newspaper Vedomosti in an interview.
"According to our contract with the Defense Ministry, we will build one aircraft as part of the research-and-development works and two more as a trial batch. We will start the production of those planes this year. I think the contract will be concluded next year," Slyusar said.
The first Il-112V is having its systems adjusted at the assembly workshop, he said.
"We are set to begin ground and airfield trials in fall," Slyusar said.
Hundreds of new aircraft are necessary to replace the fleet of Antonov An-24 and An-26 light transport planes, he said.
"Considering other special clients, the niche looks colossal," he said.
"Anyway, dozens of Antonov aircraft will be decommissioned in 2025 and 2026, and we will need new planes to replace them. This is the time that we have for testing the new aircraft, starting its mass production in Voronezh, and delivering it to clients," Slyusar said.
Alexei Rogozin, the UAC Vice-President for Transport Aviation and Ilyushin Aviation Complex General Director, said in July that the Il-112V light military transport plane would perform the maiden flight late this year, and its mass production would begin in 2020.
The Il-112V plane was designed to transport and airdrop up to five tonnes of light weapons and military hardware, cargo, and troops, and to carry a broad range of commercial freight.
The plane is capable of automatic landing on airfields of the ICAO's second category and manually landing on underdeveloped and undeveloped airfields, including dirt runways.