A russian Il-76TD military transport aircraft with the registration number RA-78765 arrived at the Caracas airport, located in the capital of Venezuela. The flight from the airport in Moscow lasted from October 24 to 26 this year.
According to the Flightradar 24 service, the route was divided into several stages. First, the Il-76TD took off from Moscow and landed in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. After that, it flew to the capital of Algeria, from where it headed to the capital of Morocco, Rabat.
Read more: How russia's Tu-160 Aircraft and Venezuela's Air Defense Pose a Threat to the U.S.
After that, the plane landed in the capital of Senegal - Drakari, than from there it flew to the capital of Mauritania, Nouakchott. The last stage of this route was a flight across the Atlantic to Caracas in Venezuela. Of course, the plane refueled at each airport.
All of these countries have quite friendly relations with russia, while some of the countries even have a russian military contingent. This, by the way, suggests that this Il-76TD could have collected its cargo on the way, as otherwise it is difficult to explain why it went first to Senegal and then back to Mauritania.
It is currently unknown what cargo this plane could have brought to Venezuela. But, thanks to the knowledge of the exact route of this Il-76TD transport aircraft, it is possible to calculate how much cargo it could deliver there. The thing is that the more cargo the plane takes, the shorter the distance it can fly.
The longest leg of the flight was a segment of the route of about 5600 km from Mauritania to Venezuela across the Atlantic. Thus, this Il-76TD could theoretically transport up to 34 tons of some cargo to Venezuela.
One can make assumptions about the content of this cargo. Venezuela has a lot of russian or Soviet-made weapons in its arsenal. Given the threat of US invasion, it is most likely that this was something that would help Venezuela in the fight against American aviation.
In particular, the Bolivarian Military Aviation of Venezuela are armed with 21 Su-30MKV and Su-30MK2 fighters, which are in a rather poor technical condition, 9 Mi-35M2 helicopters and 8 Mi-17 in an unknown condition. The Venezuelan Armed Forces also have more than 6 S-125 Pechora-2M SAM systems, 3-9 Buk-M2E SAM systems as well as 1-2 divisions of S-300VM SAM systems. In addition, the Venezuelan Armed Forces are armed with the Igla-S MANPADS.
Given this, one of the options for what cargo could have been delivered to Venezuela by the russian strategic airlifter could have been anti-aircraft missiles, air-to-air missiles or other ammunition. It should be noted that these were unlikely to be missiles for the Buk-M2E, S-300VM or S-125 Pechora-2M SAM systems, as they are quite heavy and, accordingly, not many of them can be delivered at one time - it is necessary to make several flights for a serious reinforcement.
A more likely version is that an additional batch of Igla-S MANPADS, air-to-air missiles for Venezuelan fighters, or spare parts for the repair and maintenance of fighters and air defense systems could have been delivered to Venezuela. For Venezuela, the most urgent need may be spare parts for the repair of fighter aircraft – given the deplorable condition they are currently in.
It is worth noting that Venezuela does not seem to have become the final destination of thу Il-76TD. On October 28, this transport aircraft headed towards Cuba, although there is currently no information about where it landed. But before continuing its route, the Il-76TD spent about 45 hours in Caracas – this time could be needed for unloading.
Read more: Venezuela Lost 3rd Su-30MK2 Fighter Because russia Didn’t Provide Maintenance
