Ilyushin Il-112V Military Transport Aircraft Targets An-32 Replacement Market

The Russian Ilyushin Il-112V military transport aircraft which performed its first flight on Saturday is targeting the replacement market for the An-32 class of aircraft, one of the most popular transport planes of the Soviet Era.

"An Il-112V light military transport aircraft performed its maiden flight successfully," the press service said as quoted by TASS. The aircraft is equipped with an all-new engine and propeller which offer significant performance increase, its engine manufacturer, UEC said.

The flight was being performed on the eve of the 125th birth anniversary of Soviet aircraft designer Sergei Ilyushin.

This is the first military transport plane designed in Russia from scratch during the post-Soviet era. Work to create it has been in progress since 2014. According to its specifications, the new plane will be capable of carrying of up to 5 tonnes of cargo. It is designed to transport troops, military equipment and weapons.

It is meat to compete in a market for aircraft that can operate from unpaved runways in rough weather. It can be modified as per its mission profile and can perform tasks such as rapid transportation and intelligence gathering.

New engine, propeller increase aircraft performance.

New engines on theIl-112V are brand new turboprop engines created by Russian United Engine Corporation’s UEC-Klimov company based in St. Petersburg. According to the UEC’s press-service, TV-117ST engine incorporates modern design solutions that increase its flight performance. Power at maximum take-off mode is 3100 hp, at increased emergency mode it is 3600 hp. As part of the power plant TV7-117ST engine works in conjunction with the AV-112 propeller, which has high performance and allows for increased frontal thrust.

One of the features of the TV7-117ST is that the automatic control system controls the operation of not only the engine, but also the propeller, that is, the entire propulsion system of the aircraft. Such joint control allows to maximize the use potential of the characteristics of the engine and the propeller and in general improve the efficiency of the power plant, says UEC.

The development team has created a unified gas generator for engine modifications that can be used for civilian and military aircraft and helicopters. TV7-117ST is the base engine for Il-112V military transport aircraft, while the civilian modification of the engine - TV7-117ST-01 - will become the engine of the regional passenger aircraft Il-114-300. TV7-117V – is a helicopter engine installed on the latest Russian Mi-38 helicopter.