Il-76 Candid

Medium range, medium lift cargo aircraft.

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History

The Ilyushin Il-76 (NATO designation Candid) was fielded by the Soviet Air Force in 1974 as a medium range, medium payload, rough surface capable cargo aircraft. Produced by the Ilyushin Aviation Complex Joint Stock Company in Moscow and the Tashkent Aircraft Production Corporation in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Il-76 was purpose built as a combat support aircraft who's primary mission was to deliver infantry and light armored vehicles. The Il-76 is also paratrooper capable, and can air deliver palletized cargo and specially prepared military vehicles.

To facilitate rough field operations, the Il-76 is equipped with a low ground pressure landing gear system and extendable trailing flaps and leading edge slats on the wings to generate additional lift at low airspeeds. To support airborne cargo delivery missions, the Candid is equipped with a telpher; an over-head electrically operated track from which cargo can be suspended and deployed, as well as a deck mounted roller conveyer system. The Il-76 can also be converted to a litter capable airborne ambulance.

Since its introduction, the Il-76 has undergone a number of modifications. The Il-76M is virtually identical to the base line Il-76 in terms of physical appearance, and flight characteristics, but with almost twice the payload capacity (47 tons for the M model, up considerably from the 28 tons of the basic model.) The Il-76MD is essentially an Il-76M with structural modifications to increase fuel load and range. The additional fuel carried increased the MD's maximum take off weight by 20 tons, and increased the range of the aircraft by 40%. The Il-76MF variant incorporates a 6.6-meter insertion into the fuselage to increase cargo hold dimensions, as well as improved engines, replacing the four D-30KP turbofan engines with four more powerful PS-90A-76 turbofans. These new engines improve range by 20% over the MD model. The MF's maximum take off weight has been increased to 210 tons, and the maximum payload has been increased to 52 tons.

In addition to serving as a cargo aircraft, the basic Il-76 design has been modified to fill a number of additional aircraft requirements. The A-50 Mainstay Airborne Early Warning radar aircraft is derived from the Il-76 design, and the Il-78 Midas aerial tanker is derived from a modified MD airframe.

Description

As with most cargo aircraft, the Il-76 body was designed to maximize available space. The fuselage is long and more rounded in cross-section than the more contemporary An-124 Condor, with a tapered aft section and rounded nose. The tail has a pair of clamshell doors and integral loading ramp for cargo. The nose, un-like the C-5 Galaxy or the An-124 Condor, is fixed, and the lower section is glassed in for observation. Directly behind the glass nose section is an oval radome, which extends laterally beyond the sides of the frame.

The wings are mounted high on the fuselage at a slight negative dihedral, and are tapered and swept. The four turbofans are mounted on pylons underneath, and forward of the wings. The horizontal stabilizers are also swept back and tapered, and are mounted high on the vertical stabilizer.

Designed as a combat aircraft, the Il-76 is capable of mounting an electronic warfare ECM package, to include radar warning receiver, and chaff and flare dispensers, to defend the aircraft from radar guided and heat seeking missile threats, and is capable of mounting air dropped ordnance on external, wing mounted ejector racks. In addition, the tail section incorporates a manned weapons station, mounting two 23mm cannons and a fire direction radar. This tail gun station is retained on many Russian owned, civilian operated Il-76s, as they were expected to serve with the Air Force during a time of war.