IL-112V: final oblivion
The situation actually looks like the old adage about the dead: either good or nothing.
In our case, it is complete silence and oblivion. Prime Minister Mishustin, visiting VASO in January last year, was very optimistic:
“As for providing your plant with orders, you can not even doubt it. So, you have IL 96-300 - 10 cars are ordered. From 2024, in my opinion, two cars a year. IL-114. There is an order - four cars. Then up to twelve a year. This is the aircraft kit you will be supplying. Further, you have just been shown the corresponding sample of IL 96-400. We will look at and shape our approaches to wide-body technology and large orders.
Of course, for nine years, I see that you are fully provided with state orders. And as you develop, as airlines acquire new equipment and operate it, of course, your company will be integrated into all these processes, and I am absolutely sure that your company is the future.”
Of course, for nine years, I see that you are fully provided with state orders. And as you develop, as airlines acquire new equipment and operate it, of course, your company will be integrated into all these processes, and I am absolutely sure that your company is the future.”
Many were then surprised not to hear from Mishustin even a word about the Il-112V. Deathly silence, even after the Prime Minister visited the workshop, where there were two completed aircraft. But - what he said, they were happy about that.
Against the background of all these “will be” and “later”, the aircraft plant continues to frankly vegetate and has no prospects. Until 2024, when the golden rivers will spill, many still have to live, and with work and salaries in our peculiar time, everything is getting worse there. The workers, I mean.
In April 2023, an interesting message passed. Not from the Ministry of Defense, not from the KLA, not from the Russian government. From the governor of the Voronezh region Gusev. It is very difficult to say why the governor announced the stoppage of work on the Il-112V, but in social networks they reacted as to the command “Save yourself, who can!”. And my friend, who worked at this plant, is now moving to Kazan.
The question "To be or not to be" clearly leaned towards "Not to be". And there are certain reasons for this.
In general, the TV7-117 engine was named the reason for the stop. The engine is really frankly “not a cake”, it has been hoarded since the 80s of the last century, but so far not very successfully. Either they are just unlucky, or the engine is really so-so, but the Mi-38s were made a little more than a dozen including prototypes, the Il-144 (20 copies were made) was preferred by Pratt and Whitney, and the Il-112V ...
Turn to the story
Il-112V began to be created in the 90s of the last century. Eight years of work did not lead to the first flight and the project was suspended for the first time. Then something was depicted, but in 2011 the Ministry of Defense decided to abandon the long-term construction and stopped funding the ROC altogether. The ministry, apparently, stopped believing that the IL-112V would fly at all, and that the TV7-117 would turn into something meaningful and workable.
As an alternative, the Ukrainian An-140 was considered, which was planned to be assembled in Voronezh or Samara, but in 2014 the issue with the Ukrainian aircraft was closed, as it turned out, forever. But the bitterness of the refusal can be mitigated by the fact that the An-140T did not have a ramp, which is so necessary for a military transport aircraft. And in terms of reliability, the An-140 life is a very so-so aircraft.
As a result, having no alternative options at all, the Ministry of Defense in 2014 again bowed to PJSC "Il" and signed a contract to complete the R&D and build three machines, an experimental one and two flight copies. The cost of work left 7,9 billion rubles.
The fuselage of the first Il-112V was assembled by December 2016.
The fact that the work was going very slowly is evidenced by the fact that the first flight took place only in March 2019, and 1 year and 1 month passed between the first and second flights! All this time was spent on correcting the shortcomings identified in the first flight.
And then the media began to leak information that the Il-112V, to put it mildly, is far from perfect. It became known about the huge congestion of the aircraft and the disturbed centering.
Here it is necessary to say a few words about the conditions under which the Il-112V was literally carried into the sky by hand.
From 2014 to 2020, VASO was led by five people - Yuri Yudin, Sergey Sergeev, Sergey Velmozhkin, Alexei Rogozin and Yuri Grudinin. Grudinin was quickly imprisoned, but not for deeds in Voronezh, but in Taganrog, at his previous place of work.
It is very significant that from 1933 to 2014, that is, for 81 years of work, VASO had THREE (!!!) leaders: Sergei Vladimirovich Ilyushin himself (from 1933 to 1970), his student Genrikh Vasilyevich Novozhilov (from 1970 to 1997) and Viktor Vladimirovich Livanov (from 1997 to 2014).
In the conditions of such a frank leapfrog, a situation developed when reports and assurances were sent to Moscow, and the work frankly stood still.
In general, many VASO experts said that it was easier to close the project and start a new one from scratch, taking into account all the problems of the Il-112V. But time was already really working against it, and the decision was made to "drug" what we had.
A fatal mistake for which the best Ilyushin crew paid with their lives.
Aleksey Rogozin, the son of Dmitry Rogozin, a blogger widely known for his statements, who was previously in public service, was sent to the assault. For a young and novice (34 years old) leader, such work has become like a test on the way to the highest echelons.
You can talk a lot about the work of Rogozin, but the fact is that in two years the bare fuselage turned into a car that could take off. And to Rogozin, perhaps, there were the least complaints compared to other leaders. After him there were three more, one of which also did not work out with a career in terms of landing.
But none of the leaders stood up as much as for Rogozin, when Karaulov accused him of the plane crash in 2021. The logic was, they say, they drove, as usual, to the date / forum, they did it somehow.
In fact, everyone at the plant knew perfectly well what the Il-112V was, but they dragged it because they knew that the army needed this transporter. No one built illusions, but they hoped to bring them to mind.
You can understand the factory workers: VASO has been “on the drain” for many years, the factories of Samara and Kazan openly poach (successfully) specialists who, quite naturally, change jobs in exchange for a decent salary. A guaranteed income is provided by the maintenance of presidential IL-96s, otherwise, we can say that VASO is interrupted by random orders. The last time the aircraft left the workshops was in 2018, it was the An-148. Of course, the "threat" to get an order for 100 Il-112V would be great. Not for one year, as they say, that's why they dragged the plane with all their might.
After the first flight, the aircraft factory people perked up, because the plane took off and landed, and the fact that “childhood illnesses” and all sorts of shortcomings is generally a matter of commonplace. Naturally, the elimination of shortcomings was considered a simple matter.
But alas, things didn't go quite the way everyone would have liked. In general, everything else looks like some kind of intricate detective story.
On April 4, 2019, less than a week after the first flight of the Il-112V, Alexei Rogozin leaves the post of General Director of PJSC Il. Very strange, it seemed, here it is, work, only forward, but no. It took "the need to optimize the management structure of the UAC", as a result of which Rogozin went to command ... the Nagatinskaya transport hub. An institution, let's say, very far from aviation.
Instead of Rogozin, the head of the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex (TANTK) named after Beriev, Yuri Grudinin, was appointed to the post of director of VASO.
Under Grudinin, work on fine-tuning the Il-112V and the continuation of the aircraft test program practically stopped.
On June 19, 2020, three months later, Grudinin was replaced by Sergei Yarkovoy. And on July 22, 2020, there was information that Grudinin was charged with embezzlement of 3,7 million rubles while still working in Taganrog, and there, on August 19, 2022, Grudinin received 2,5 years in prison.
the same year, information appeared in the media that Grudinin was suspected of fraud on the fact of embezzlement of 3,7 million rubles. Subsequently, on August 19, 2022, the Taganrog City Court sentenced Grudinin to 2,5 years in a penal colony ...
Under Yarkov, things got a little shaky, right. That day to day, but two years later, on March 30, 2021, the Il-112V made its second flight. The IL-112V did not fly again, the plane began to prepare for the forum "Army ...".
On August 13, 2021, the aircraft, without completing the flight test program, flew from Voronezh to Zhukovsky near Moscow to participate in the VII Army-2021 International Military-Technical Forum.
On August 17, the plane was taken to a training flight. When the car took off, there was a surge and then a fire on the right engine. The fire melted the aluminum aileron rods, as a result of which the aircraft fell on the right wing, collided with the ground and exploded in the area of the Nikolskoye settlement.
The crew of test pilot Hero of Russia Nikolai Kuimov, test pilot Dmitry Komarov and test flight engineer Nikolai Khludeev died.
The accident during the fourth flight completely stopped all work on the aircraft "until the causes of the disaster were clarified", although it was already clear that the aircraft was not ready for demonstration flights in the least. A wild desire to show at least something resulted in the loss of three testers who could bring this car to mind, if it were not so needed for show.
On February 22, 2022, it was announced that all work on the production of the Il-112V, including work on assembling the second and third prototypes at VASO, was suspended until the investigation of the crash with the first aircraft was completed.
On February 10, 2023, another change of leadership took place: the UAC press service announced that Daniil Brenerman would head VASO instead of Sergey Yarkovy.
Total: for 9 years, 7 general directors managed to work at VASO. The Il-112V has been set aside, and Prime Minister Mishustin did not even mention it in his speeches to the factory workers. But it was good to tell them that everything was fine with them.
The question arises: does it make sense to complete the construction of the second and third copies of the aircraft in order to finalize them (overload of 2 tons has not gone away)?
Answer: in the form in which everything is now - not the slightest. The problems of misalignment have not been solved, the problems of excess weight have not been solved, and moreover, there is no engine for the aircraft. TV7-117 is not powerful enough and absolutely unreliable engine. It could not be brought to condition for more than 30 years, and will not be able to continue.
Does the Russian army need the Il-112V? Yes, it is not only needed, it is necessary. Yesterday. How long can the service life of An-22, An-12 and An-26 be extended? Until the moment when they start to crumble in the air? And besides them, sorry, nothing else. IL-76 and helicopters. And forty-year-old An-72.
At the time of the news about the suspension of all work on the Il-112V, the situation is as follows: there is no engine for a light transporter. And the plane itself is also missing.
Does it make sense to "drag" TV7-117 and Il-112V into the sky? Aviation specialists, who know the true state of affairs with the project, say out loud that no, it’s not worth it. This will simply lead to the waste of billions and some more human lives.
Approaching the issue responsibly, if we really need a military transport aircraft, and not the development of funds by the next managers at VASO (and believe me, gentlemen, the managers live there simply gorgeous, I know personally how delicious it is to work in the commercial department of an enterprise), then about IL-112V is really worth forgetting. As well as about the unsuccessful TV7-177. And start from scratch at an accelerated pace, work on a new aircraft. Under a different engine, which, too, may have to be created.
Of course, it is necessary to work not in the Russian way, but much faster. Work on the Il-112V began in 2002, the first flight - 2019. The second, third and last flight is 2021. Almost 20 years.
For comparison, the An-26, which was planned to replace the Il-112V: development began in 1964, technical documentation was transferred to production in 1968, and already on May 21, 1969, the first flight of the An-26 was successfully carried out. 5 years of work and how many years of service.
There is, you see, something to be equal to.
That is, without computers, 3D-modeling programs, in those days for 5 years they worked out an aircraft, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of its labor activity. It is still flying.
What prevents our KLA from doing the same? After all, today it is “We can repeat” on every corner, so let's repeat!
But something says that the Russian military transport aviation will have very troubled and difficult times ahead. But in this stories there is one plus: initially no IL-112V will kill anyone else. I count on it very much.
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