MOSCOW, February 9 (AVN) - The IL-76MF new transport will pass the first stage of the state tests in February, Aleksey Korzhov, the Ilyushin alliance military department head, told the Military News Agency.
At present the plane has to make several more test flights and then it will get a preliminary license.
The second stage of the tests is to start in the second quarter of 2000.
IL-76MF is a modernised version of IL-76; having made fuselage 6.6m longer and having equipped IL-76 with new PS-90A engines the designers received a new aircraft.
The new plane can carry 15-20 percent more load than its basic version; the flight range is also increased by 15-20 percent.
Due to lack of money the plain is tested over five years, Korzhov added.