Russia’s Military Transport Aviation receiving advanced Il-76MD-90A planes.

Advanced Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A planes produced by the Aviastar-SP Plant in Ulyanovsk in the Volga area are being delivered to the Russian Aerospace Force’s Military Transport Aviation, the Defense Ministry’s press office said.

 Il-76MD-90A (Picture source: Vitaly V. Kuzmin)

"The advanced heavy military transport plane features a number of new elements, in particular, all-metal wing, reinforced cargo floor, stronger landing gear, PS-90A-76 engines with higher thrust/weight ratio and reduced fuel consumption, and digital equipment," the press office said.

Unlike the baseline Il-76MD (NATO reporting name: Candid) plane, the Il-76MD-90A has higher-power and fuel-efficient PS-90A-76 engines with maximum 14.5-ton thrust instead of the organic D-30KP2 engines with a thrust of 12 tons.

The Il-76MD-90A features a glass cockpit with eight multifunctional displays, with six of them intended for the pilots and two designed for the navigator. The plane is also equipped with a sophisticated Kupol-III-76M(A) flight and navigation suite. The plane’s maximum flight range with a payload of 20 tons has grown from 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles) to 8,500 kilometers (5,282 miles). It has a service life of 30 years that can be extended.

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