The governmental resolution on the development and productionising of the upgraded Il-76 in the city of Ulyanovsk was issued on 20 December 2006. Since 1972, the Il-76’s production had been produced in Uzbekistan by the Tashkent Aircraft Production Corp. named after Valery Chkalov (TAPC) that had built a total of almost 900 aircraft of the type over four decades. The transfer of the Il-76’s production to Russia was caused by the snags hit by the implementation of the September 2005 contract for 38 Il-76MDs, including several tanker planes, for China, with the contract having been awarded to TAPC by Rosoboronexport. It turned out that the financial standing of TAPC and the financial conditions proposed would not allow the deal to pan out. In addition, it became obvious that in addition to future commercial orders, there would be high demand for the Il-76 on the part of Russian users as well, the Defence Ministry in the first place. To avoid dependence on the manufacturer sitting in a foreign, albeit friendly, country, the Russians weighed the pros and cons and opted for having the Il-76 productionised in Russia, at the Aviastar plant in Ulyanovsk.

The aircraft developed almost 40 years ago was to be upgraded heavily and its design documentation was to be digitized, essentially worked out anew in the form of 3D digital models. The Il-76’s basic upgrades included the replacement of its engines with more powerful and more efficient PS-90A-76 turbofans made in Perm (by then, the engine had been tested on Il-76MF and Il-76MD-90 prototypes) and a heavy update of its avionics suite, including the introduction of the ‘glass cockpit’.

At the same time, several considerable design and technological improvements have been introduced too. For instance, the wing, which retained its airfoil section and outline, has been given a new structural layout – the wing panel became a one-piece job using long-measuring panels with riveted stringers, and the number of the wing spars dropped from three to two. This allowed a sizeable reduction in structural weight and an increase in terms of manufacturability.

Owing to the new wing and reinforced undercarriage, the airlifter’s maximum take-off weight has grown from 190 t of the TAPC-built production-standard Il-76MD to 210 t, while its maximum payload has increased from 47 t to 60 t. Owing to the 12% fuel efficiency increase of its PS-90A-76, the aircraft have seen an increase in its range from 4,000 km to 5,000 km with the 52-t payload. The greater thrust allowed an improvement in its takeoff and landing performance, with the length of the run diminishing from 1,750 m to 1,600 m. The TA-6A auxiliary powerplant was replaced with the more advanced TA-12A to enhance the operating characteristics.

The Kupol-II analogue flight navigation system has been ousted by the digital Kupol-III-76M(A), and the SAU-1T-2B analogue automatic flight control system has been replaced with the digital SAU-76 allowing ICAO Category II landing approaches and RNP and RVSM navigation. The traditional ‘steam-gauge’ instruments in the cockpit have given way to the KSEIS integrated electronic display and warning system comprising eight colour multifunction liquid-crystal displays (MFD). The advanced BPSN-2 satnav system has made its way onboard the airlifter too.

The upgraded aircraft has been designated as Il-76MD-90A and given the index 476. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade ordered the construction of the first two prototypes, one for endurance tests (c/n 01-01) and another for flight tests (c/n 01-02), with UAC – Transport Aircraft JSC acted as prime contractor.

Il-76MD-90A prototype (c/n 01-02, side number 78650) first flew in Ulyanovsk on 22 September 2012, and 4 October saw the new airlifter’s presentation to Russian President Vladimir Putin on a visit to Ulyanovsk for a meeting on the governmental acquisition of Russian-made aircraft. Then there was the ceremony of signing the launch contract for 39 Il-76MD-90A aircraft for the Russian Defence Ministry.
The first Il-76MD-90A was ferried from Ulyanovsk to Ilyushin’s flight test facility in Zhukovsky on 30 January 2013. Following relevant ground tests and improvements, on 18 March it flew its first mission there under the flight development test programme designed for 22 sorties. Actually, the programme had been fulfilled by 21 May, and 19 flights had proved to be enough.

At present, Aviastar plant is manufacturing the first three pre-production Il-76MD-90A airlifters. Their construction commenced as far back as 2010 under the contract with UAC – Transport Aircraft. According to Aviastar-SP Director General Sergei Dementyev, two of them are to be completed as soon as this year, with the deliveries to begin in 2014. The company’s production plan provides for a gradual increase in the annual Il-76MD-90A output all the way to 18 aircraft per annum by 2018.