Russia’s Defense Ministry May Not Abandon IL-112 despite Accident

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The Ilyushin Il-112V crashed at the military airfield in Kubinka on August 17. The aircraft was on its way from the Voronezh aircraft factory to the International Military Technical Forum Army-2021, which Vedomosti said would start in Kubinka on 22 August.

A video shows the right engine captured by the airplane, which probably caused the aircraft to crash. An inquiry to establish the cause of the fire will be undertaken. Since this is the prototype, Oleg Bocharov, the Sector and Trade Deputy Minister responsible for the aviation sector, says the ministry spokesperson, is going to conduct an inquiry into the causes behind the tragedy.

Like many others which began in the 1990s, the Il-112V project took a long period. The aircraft was intended to replace light military transportation and passenger aircraft such as Antonov An-24 and An-26, which in the following decade would approach the end of their service. The defense ministry decided in 2011 to cancel the project and withdraw funding after eight years of study. The project was, however, resurrected in 2014 because of a shortage of alternatives. Work has again been reversed because of the need for substantial design changes.

According to Oleg Panteleyev of the Aviaport agency, no hypothesis should be made until the cause of the accident is established. As regards the motor imposed on the future use of the Il-112V, Panteleyev stated that the capacity of the power system had to be expanded to fully use the potential of the aircraft, which equals the development of a new engine.

According to Ruslan Pukhov, Center for Strategy and Technology Analytics Director, the Russian Defense Minister will not abandon the Il-112V programme, because it calls for such a large aircraft and has no alternative choices. However, according to the expert, the project construction will be delayed again.