The russians say that they will produce the Il-100 Slon (Slon or Слон in russian stands for Elephant) strategic airlifter as well as Il-276 medium-airlift military transport aircraft at the Aviastar-SPplant in Ulyanovsk.
This was stated by the head of the Ulyanovsk region of the russian federation, noting that the technical re-equipment of the enterprise is required. There is also talk of need for building new production sites and increasing the number of employees from 12 to 20 thousand people.
Read more: russia's Strategic Aviation Crisis: Failing Attempts to "Reproduce" the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 at the Kazan Aviation Plant
The most interesting thing in this news is that neither aircraft has yet made its first flight, although russians have been working on one of them for almost 25 years.
Let us recall that currently Aviastar-SP is primarily focused on the production of Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft and Il-78M-90A aerial refueling tankers developed on their basis. As Defense Express previously reported, the russians are also not doing well with this, while their annual plans are constantly not being met.
On the other hand, this means that the Aviastar-SP plant in Ulyanovsk is a fully operational enterprise that supplies serial models of equipment. And this may be in favor of choosing this plant to expand production in order to launch promising projects into series.
It is known that the Il-100 Slon strategic airlifter is being created to replace the An-124 Ruslan, which was actually produced by Aviastar-SP. However, at the moment this aircraft exists just in the form of "preliminary sketches" – that is, at a very early stage of development. In view of this, it is possible to declare the deployment of production of this aircraft only for the sake of propaganda.
The Il-276 medium-airlift military transport aircraft project is even more "interesting". The russians, together with India, began the development of this aircraft 24 years ago – in 2001. This aircraft was supposed to replace the An-12, An-26 and An-72 transport aircraft in the air forces of both countries, but already in 2015 the Indian "partners" abandoned this project.
The first flight of the Il-276 was planned for 2023, and the start of its operation - in 2026, but neither of these became a reality. Moreover, according to available information, this aircraft has not yet been "embodied in metal".
We can summarize that the russians are once again announcing plans to begin mass production of aircraft that do not exist. On the other hand, it should not be ruled out that a significant increase in the number of employees as well as the creation of new production sites can be used by the russians to increase the production of those aircraft that are already being produced - Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft and Il-78M-90A aerial refueling tankers. Therefore, such propaganda statements may be evidence of an intensification of the struggle in russia of military products manufacturers for limited human and financial resources, which have recently been rapidly melting against the backdrop of the war unleashed by russia against Ukraine, which is becoming increasingly costly for the aggressor country.
Defense Express reported earlier, that russians complained that they to fly civilian An-26 aircraft for at least another 10 years due to the lack of a replacement.
Read more: How Many Years and Billions russia Will Need to Restore Tu-160, Tu-95MSM and Tu-22M3 Losses in Ukrainian Operation
