MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - The Russian Armed Forces will get the first serial Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military-transport plane next week, the Ilyushin company press service said.
"The first serial plane is fully ready. It is scheduled to be put into operation next week," the press service said.
The company confirmed that the Il-76MD-90A has not been delivered to the Armed Forces since 2014.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov told reporters on Thursday the Aviastar-SP company, which is a part the Ilyushin company, had disrupted a contract for the supply of three planes for the Defense Ministry under state defense contracts in 2018.
"The main contractor has some kind of problems with the UAC's [United Aircraft Corporation] Military-Transport Aviation squadron to organize the delivery of serial models of upgraded Il-76 aircraft, which we call the Il-476s and which the Defense Ministry needs today. Last year, the state defense order was violated, three machines should have been manufactured, we are producing them with a delay of 3-4 months," Borisov said.
The situation has been recently discussed at the Moscow meeting, at which the causes behind this delay, the current situation and all the issues related to cooperation have been thoroughly considered. "Today, I find it necessary to visit together with the contractor the Ulyanovsk Aviation Plant, which will manufacture these machines on a serial basis, in order to inspect and evaluate the degree of readiness of the production facility," the deputy prime minister said.
He also said the Defense Ministry plans to buy over 100 military-transport planes and Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A refueling planes by 2030.
"This aircraft is the main one in the Defense Ministry's plans. The Defense Ministry plans on buying over 100 planes by 2030, and this number will increase if you add tanker aircraft, which is made from this plane," Borisov said.
Aviastar-SP should begin producing over ten modernized military-transport Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A planes annually in 2021, he said.
"The factory plans to produce at least six planes this year, to produce at least seven planes next year and the guaranteed capabilities will be 10-12 planes starting from 2021," he said.