No kidding! I guess LM and Saab won't be expecting any rapid decision on a single engine fighter from India based on recent purchase horror shows. I shouldn't complain, India takes the heat off our $hit procurement performance as of late.
That's what I mean, the IL-76MD90A. In payload, 13 ILs equal 10 IAF C-17s, saving ~$1,543B.India should order the IL-476 with the new engines.
You increase range or decrease fuel consumption.. or both.
It makes no sense bying base line IL-76 any more.
The big drawback of the Il-76 is cargo box cross-section. That's why the An-70 was designed. The A400M was also designed around the cargo box. There are too many things that can't be fitted into an Il-76.I found it here. IMO, India could save tons of $ by buying new IL-76s from Russia: $218M vs.$49M, 169M difference, not counting operational costs that, all things considered, are also less for the latter. 1 C-17 costs as much as ~3.5 IL-76s, & they could order more IL-76s to make up for some loss of capability!
The big drawback of the Il-76 is cargo box cross-section. That's why the An-70 was designed. The A400M was also designed around the cargo box. There are too many things that can't be fitted into an Il-76.
The C-17 has a bigger box than the A400M & An-70, much bigger than Il-76. That matters.
In the Eastern hemisphere, Antonov has crumbled, and thus Iljusjin is the only left to pick up the pices for such platforms, so it is what it is, no matter how much more efficient the Antonov platform possible could be.
Iljusjin can expect to produce a decent amount of IL-476 for different purpose, the IL-478 tanker, the A-100 AWACS.
And that is a somewhat positive thing, you can use the same airframe for three different purpose i guess.
Russia are at the same time running a upgrade on their IL-76 fleet with the MD variant, even though its without new engine. But who knows, that might come later.
thought the Russian-Indian MTA program was dead..? or am i mistaken it for another program.
A shame the IL-76MF never happened.. the 90's killed it.
Wonder how many are operating the 76, it almost reached 1000 units.
So without any research, i would guess the MTA is for a replacement for the An-26/32 for both countries, perhaps even for the older An-12'ish platform as well?
Alltough It is/was India-Russia program, doesn't China also need such size Cargo hauler?
China domestically produces updated An-12 clones, so they have no need for a Russian import. They might be interested in a full joint development program but I suspect Russia wouldn't be willing to give them so much access. They've proven themselves to be far better at making use of acquired tech then the Indians.
C-130 is an early 1950s design.Well for how long are China able to Milk everything out of a early 60's design.. as the An-12 is? That thing can't possible be up to par with come 2017 requirements.
I think if there was two left, NZ likely would buy them. If there were 10-15 a year ago, I wonder if Germany, the U.K. or even France would opt for some given the A400 delay.