MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian engineers and scientists have begun working on a prospective superheavy-class military-transport aviation complex (PAK VTA), which will replace the Antonov An-124 Ruslan, Il General Director Alexei Rogozin said.
"We distinguish between four classes of military-transport planes: light, medium, heavy and superheavy (long-haul heavy). A lot of work is now being done on all programs: to boost the condition of the existing equipment and to develop new equipment. When the service life of the light military-transport plane Antonov-26 expires, we will replace them with the Ilyushin Il-112V, the medium military-transport plane Antonov An-12 will be replaced with the Ilyushin Il-276, the heavy military-transport plane Ilyushin 76 will be replaced with the Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A, and the superheavy military-transport plane Antonov An-124 will be replaced with the PAK VTA. It will not just be a replacement, but equipment capable of achieving totally new tasks," Rogozin said on Facebook.