MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The second of the five Indian Navy IL-38 May aircraft, stipulated in the contract, has arrived at the Ilyushin Aircraft Enterprise for modernization, Ilyushin Director General Viktor Livanov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
"The second IL-38 has arrived in Russia for modernization, under the contract, signed by Rosoboronexport, the Indian Defense Ministry, and the Ilyushin Aircraft Enterprise, which envisions upgrading five IL-38s to IL-38SD modification," Livanov said.
He noted that the first Indian IL-38 arrived in Russia for modernization in late March 2003.
"It will take about ten months to upgrade the second IL-38," Livanov said.
He underlined that although India lost two IL-38s in an air crash in 2002, the signed contract had not been revised so far, and still envisioned upgrading five aircraft.
Livanov said that the IL-38 would be upgraded at the Ilyushin pilot plant.
The IL-38s to be designated IL-38SDs later on will be retrofitted with new equipment, including the Morskoy Zmey target acquisition sight.
Livanov expressed his regret for the fact that the modernization of IL-38N aircraft for the Russian naval aviation is considerably lagging behind the timeframe adopted.
"The first IL-38N prototype is now progressing through flight tests," Livanov said.