MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia plans to develop a short-range patrol aircraft.
"The baseline patrol aircraft is expected to be based on either the IL-114 passenger airliner, or the IL-114T transport version," a source in the defense industry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
"There is no other baseline aircraft with the necessary size in Russia," he noted.
Development of a baseline short-range patrol aircraft is envisioned by the state armament program for 2006-2015, he said.
He also said that the patrol aircraft would be powered by the national TV7-117S engine, designed by the St. Petersburg-based Klimov Plant, and a Pratt & Whitney engine for foreign customers.
Asked about the armament and avionics of the new aircraft, the source said that the aircraft would be fitted with anything a customer requested.
According to the press, a patrol aircraft, based on the IL-114 has been developed since the 1990s. The patrol aircraft development was suspended in 1999-2000 due to the lack of funds.
The Ilyushin Company is known to have worked out several military versions of the IL-114 in the late 1990s, designed to carry out patrols and search and rescue operations, detect and destroy surface ships and submarines, conduct reconnaissance and electronic warfare, and participate in salvage operations.