Pak ta heavy transport aircraft. PAK TA
Work continues on the “Advanced Aviation Complex for Transport Aviation” (PAK TA) project, designed to provide the Russian Air Force with new military transport aircraft. The project is currently at the stage of preliminary research and formation of the appearance of promising technology. The first technical details will become known later, after the completion of this stage of work. However, some information about the PAK TA project is already appearing. Recently it became known that within the framework of the new project a whole family of military transport aircraft with different characteristics, designed to solve various tasks, will be developed.
The Lenta.ru news agency, citing an unnamed source in the defense industry, reports some features of the new PAK TA project. According to the source, it is planned to create several military transport aircraft with different characteristics. These will be cars of different classes, from medium to super-heavy. Thus, the average aircraft of the new model will have a payload capacity of about 50 tons, and the super-heavy aircraft should surpass the existing An-124 in its characteristics. Thus, the largest of the family vehicles will be able to transport up to 120-150 tons of cargo.
As follows from the information disclosed, the medium aircraft of the PAK TA family will be able to complement and then replace the existing Il-76 aircraft of various modifications. Heavy and super-heavy aircraft, in turn, will be designed to transport various equipment and cargo that cannot be transported by the existing Il-76. First of all, the cargo of the new heavy and super-heavy PAK TA will be various equipment of the armed forces, including promising armored vehicles based on the Armata platform.
A Lenta.ru source claims that the customer, the Ministry of Defense, has not yet determined which version of the military transport aircraft will become the base for the new family of equipment. This decision will be made later, although the timing of its appearance remains unknown.
According to some reports, work on the “Advanced Aviation Complex for Transport Aviation” project began in 2013. Subsequently, a number of aviation industry organizations worked on various features and aspects of a promising transport aircraft. For obvious reasons, until a certain time, even approximate characteristics of the promising technology were not announced. It was stated that the first military transport aircraft of the new type would be delivered to the customer in the mid-twenties.
Last year it became known that the head enterprise of the PAK TA project was the Aviation Complex named after. S.V. Ilyushin. Some details of the work were announced in mid-October. Then the general director of the Ilyushin company, Sergei Sergeev, said that the development of a family of new transport aircraft would begin in 2016. The new project plans to create several types of super-heavy aircraft. The carrying capacity of this equipment must exceed 80 tons. The project has the code “Ermak”. It was assumed that serial construction of new aircraft will begin in 2024.
According to domestic media reports, at that time it was planned to develop and put into series several aircraft with a payload of 80 tons or more. Through the implementation of such a project, it was possible to replace existing machines of a similar class. Thus, the emergence of military transport aircraft with a payload capacity of 80 to 120-140 tons would make it possible to replace the remaining An-22 aircraft and the An-124, which are available in relatively large quantities. At the same time, the opportunity arose to abandon the joint Russian-Ukrainian project to produce An-124 aircraft.
However, the planned replacement remains a distant matter for now. It will take some time to launch full-fledged serial construction, which is why new equipment will appear in the required quantities no earlier than the first half of the thirties.
Currently, Russian military transport aviation has aircraft of various types. Among the aircraft that will have to be replaced by the new equipment of the PAK TA family, the most popular at the moment are the Il-76 aircraft of various modifications with a carrying capacity of up to 50-60 tons, depending on the modification. In the foreseeable future, the Air Force should receive several dozen Il-76MD-90A aircraft, which have higher performance in comparison with the latest modifications of the Il-76. In addition, there are several An-22 aircraft with a payload of up to 60 tons and several An-124 with a payload of more than 120 tons.
It is now known that the existing fleet of military transport aircraft will be replaced by several types of aircraft with different characteristics. Various tasks will be distributed between medium-class aircraft capable of carrying up to 50 tons of cargo, heavy (carrying capacity probably up to 60-80 tons) and super-heavy (up to 120-150 tons). Thus, the PAK TA project currently being developed will help not only update the fleet of military transport aircraft, but also to a certain extent expand its capabilities, significantly increasing the maximum payload in comparison with existing equipment.
Of great interest are the words of a Lenta.ru source about the possibility of transporting armored vehicles, including promising vehicles of the Armata family. Since this equipment can only be transported using heavy and super-heavy class aircraft, certain conclusions can be drawn about its approximate weight and overall characteristics. In addition, it can be assumed that promising super-heavy transport aircraft will be able to transport 1-2 tanks or other armored vehicles based on the Armata platform.
Currently, as follows from the available data, the military and aviation industry specialists are engaged in determining the requirements for promising military transport aircraft and shaping their technical appearance. Development of the project should start only next year. Since the project is in its very early stages, most of the information about it has not yet been published, and the announced plans may be revised several times in the future. Thus, in the very near future, new messages may appear that confirm or refute the existing information.
Based on materials from sites:
http://lenta.ru/
http://interfax.ru/
http://ria.ru/
http://tass.ru/
80 units of new heavy aircraft will enter service with Russia by 2024. This was stated at the next meeting of the Military-Industrial Commission. The developers of the PAK TA aircraft project announced some of the tactical and technical indicators of their unique brainchild.
PAK TA, flying at hypersonic speeds, is capable of reaching any point on Earth in 7 hours. According to statements, the aircraft will be able to fly at a speed of 2 thousand km/h with a flight range of 7 thousand km and lift a load of 200 tons into the air. If necessary, a fleet consisting of such aircraft will be able to quickly transport an “armored fist” of four hundred modern Armata tanks, with full ammunition and all the necessary accompanying services.
PAK TA will transport equipment and personnel to the areas where they are needed at the moment. Among the main cargoes, it is worth highlighting anti-aircraft missile systems, multiple launch rocket systems, missile launchers, self-propelled guns, Armata tanks and Sprut-SD type vehicles. The weight of the ultra-modern T-14 Armata tanks is not yet completely known, but according to the official data presented, it will be no more than 50 tons. It turns out that the PAK TA is capable of transporting up to four tanks at a time.
PAK TA aircraft can transport four Armata tanks
The cargo compartments will be located on several levels and will have automatic loading/unloading capabilities. Moreover, the system involves the descent of equipment and personnel by parachute.
According to official information, work on the project has been ongoing for several years. At the same time, modern technical specifications are very different from those that were adopted at the very beginning of the creation of PAK TA. According to the first specifications, the next generation aircraft could fly at a speed of 900 km per hour with a flight range of 4.5 thousand km.
Finally, it is worth noting that within the framework of the PAK TA program it is planned to create not only a transport aircraft, but also a number of other aircraft with a carrying capacity of 80 to 200 tons. They will gradually replace transport aircraft produced by Ilyushin and Antonov Design Bureaus.
The development of PAK TA military aircraft will most likely be carried out by specialists from the aviation complex named after. S.V. Ilyushin, and the basis for the new project, according to many experts, could be the Il-106 project, which is characterized by a payload capacity of 80 tons and won the tender in the late 1980s, but was abandoned after the collapse of the USSR.
According to the plans of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Russian government, by 2024 the Russian army should receive 80 units of new heavy transport aircraft PAK-TA (Advanced Aviation Complex of Transport Aviation), which, flying at hypersonic speeds, will be able to reach any point on the globe in approximately seven hours . According to the stated specifications, the PAK-TA aircraft will be able to fly at speeds of up to 2000 kilometers per hour, have a flight range of up to 7 thousand kilometers and lift cargo weighing up to 200 tons into the air. A fleet of such transport aircraft will be able, if necessary, to quickly transport an “armored fist” of 400 ultra-modern Armata tanks with full ammunition and all related services.
The main task of PAK-TA transport workers will be to transport military equipment of various types, including not only Armata tanks, but also self-propelled artillery guns, anti-aircraft missile systems, tactical missile launchers, multiple launch rocket systems and anti-tank combat vehicles of the Sprut-SD type. PAK-TA aircraft will have a multi-level deck equipped with an automatic loading and unloading system; in addition, they will be capable of parachuting any equipment and airborne troops.
According to available information, work within the PAK-TA project has been ongoing for several years. And the current technical specifications are already fundamentally different from the specifications adopted at the very beginning of this project. According to the first specifications, the next generation of transport aircraft was supposed to be able to fly at a speed of 900 kilometers per hour, while having a “moderate” flight range of 4.5 thousand kilometers.
Within the framework of the PAK-TA program, not only a transport aircraft will be developed, which without a doubt can be called a monster, and whose closest relative is the Buran carrier An-225 Mriya, capable of lifting 225 tons of cargo into the air. As part of this program, a whole range of aircraft will be developed with a carrying capacity of 80 to 200 tons, which will gradually replace all existing transport aircraft produced by Antonov and Ilyushin Design Bureaus.
Military cargo transport aircraft PAK-TA will most quickly be developed by specialists from the S.V. Ilyushin Aviation Complex, Moscow, and the basis for a new project in this case could be the project of the Il-106 aircraft, with a payload capacity of 80 tons, which won the government tender at the end 1980s, but which was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Monster cars - all about the most exceptional machines, mechanisms and devices in the world, from huge means of destroying their own kind to tiny, precise devices, mechanisms and everything in between.
On June 20, it became known that the Ulyanovsk Aviastar-SP plant plans to begin production of a new heavy military transport aircraft to replace the An-124 Ruslan aircraft: according to the executive director of the company A. Kapustin, this project is under development. Read about what kind of aircraft will replace the Ruslan and when this will happen in the material of the Zvezda TV and Radio Broadcasting Company. Heavyweight lineup In the 21st century, military transport aviation has become an instrument without which the Russian Armed Forces are unthinkable. This is due to the fact that only with its help can the transfer of heavy equipment and troops be carried out in the shortest possible time, and this is especially important for our country, with its vast territory. At the same time, there is the following classification of military transport aircraft: light, with a payload of up to 11 tons, medium - up to 20 tons, heavy - more than 20 tons and super-heavy for strategic purposes. To operate effectively, military transport aviation must have a line of aircraft of all these types, but at the moment in Russia only the Il-76 MD-90A has been produced, transferred from Tashkent to Ulyanovsk.
The Il-76 MD-90A is capable of transporting up to 52 tons of cargo and is a modification of the legendary Il-76, which has proven itself in numerous military conflicts in which it took part. However, having only this aircraft in service is not enough, and this is due not only to the payload, but also to the size of the cargo compartment: not all large-sized equipment can fit in it. In addition, it is too expensive to transport many cargoes on it. Walking« Ruslana» in torment The An-124 Ruslan military transport aircraft with a payload of 120-150 tons was developed in the Soviet Union by the Design Bureau named after. OK. Antonov, which after its collapse remained in Kyiv. This aircraft with a maximum load has a range of 4800 km, and with a load of 80 tons - up to 7500 km. For comparison, the flight range of the Il-76 MD-90A with maximum load does not exceed 4100 km. If we compare the dimensions of the cargo compartments of the Ruslan and the Il-76, then the Ruslan has almost twice as much. Its width is 6.4 m, height - 4.4 m and length 36 m versus 3.4, 3.4 and 24.5 meters, respectively, for the Il-76 MD-90A. The operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria showed that the “Ruslans "remain an indispensable means of transporting troops, humanitarian aid and equipment, but it also revealed another problem: deprived of developer support, the Russian Armed Forces risk being left without the An-124 altogether.
The problem is that its designers are located in Kyiv. Due to a change in the political regime in Ukraine, cooperation with Antonov was severed, and all Russian-Ukrainian projects to resume production of Ruslans were put to death. At the same time, there are nine such aircraft left in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces, and 12 are used by Volga-Dnepr Airlines. These machines are still flying, but in the future the question of components will arise, and this is especially true for the D-18T engines, which are produced in Ukraine . It can be assumed that the Ruslans, in the absence of spare parts supplies, will begin to “eat” each other, and the number of flying aircraft will gradually decrease. That is why Russia began developing a project for its own heavy long-distance transporter. From« Ruslana» before« Ermak“Projects for a new heavy transport aircraft have appeared in both the USSR and Russia several times over the past decades. So, in the 90s, Design Bureau named after. S.V. Ilyushin presented its project for the Il-106 transport aircraft, which was developed on the basis of the Il-86 wide-body airliner. According to the project, this aircraft was supposed to transport up to 100 tons of cargo over a distance of 5,000 kilometers, but due to the deplorable state of the Russian economy in the 1990s, it never received development. Work on a heavy transport aircraft continued at AK Ilyushin only in 2012 -2015, when the project of a heavy military transport aircraft was developed, known under the designation “Ermak”, or PTS - a promising transport aircraft. The start of development work on this project is scheduled for 2016, and serial production of the vehicles is planned to begin in 2024.
“As far as I know, AK Ilyushin has a plan for creating promising aircraft, according to which work will be carried out in the following order: first the Il-476 project, then the Il-112V, then the Il-214, and only then a heavy military transport aircraft. This means that the creation of a new super-heavy aircraft will begin only in the next decade. I doubt that this car will be ready for serial production by 2024,” says the portal’s expert www.aex.ru Vladimir Karnozov. As Nikolai Dmitrievich Talikov, General Designer of AK Ilyushin, told TRC Zvezda, preparations are underway to begin designing the aircraft, but “it is still very, very far from launching into mass production.” At the same time, he noted that there is already a general idea of what the new heavy military transport aircraft will be like. Project without engine Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced the development of a new heavy engine with a thrust of up to 35 tons on June 20. According to him, the decision to create such an engine was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which appropriate funds were allocated for this. At the moment, aviation companies in Russia and China are determining the service life of those airliners that are already operating on leading lines (it is also planned to use the new engine on the Russian-Chinese wide-body aircraft, the agreement on the creation of which was signed in 2014).
“It is assumed that the engine in the 30-35 thrust class will be developed by Aviadvigatel JSC, led by Alexander Aleksandrovich Inozemtsev. In addition, JSC Kuznetsov offers its own development, based on the gas generator of the NK-32-2 engine. The timing of the creation of new engines has not yet been clearly defined. It should be remembered that the development of a new engine is a long process, longer than the development of an aircraft,” says Vladimir Karnozov. It should be noted that in Russia there is no experience in creating an engine with such thrust. There is some hope that the PD-14 engine in the 14-ton thrust class is being created in our country. Although it is of a completely different class, the technologies that are used in it can also be used to create an engine for a heavy military transport aircraft. According to the experience of the world aircraft industry, the implementation of such a project can take ten years. Handicap at 15 years old The main question is: will aircraft manufacturers have time to create a new super-heavy transport aircraft by the time when there are no more Ruslans left in air units and airlines? “Ruslans will “retire” in different ways. This will happen faster in civil aviation, slower in military units due to less intensive use. In addition, military transport personnel have recently undergone modernization. All Ruslan military aircraft have a different service life, but we can say that they have about 15 years left to fly. This time should be enough to create a replacement aircraft,” says Roman Gusarov, an expert on the Transport Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
As for the Volga-Dnepr company, which also uses Ruslans, the situation here, according to the expert, is more complicated, and, most likely, the aircraft will be written off earlier. It should be noted that this airline is a large taxpayer, which is no wonder: the An-124 remains the largest production cargo aircraft in the world and is capable of solving unique problems. “It must be said that, unlike exclusively military aircraft, the new military transporter may be in demand and among civil air carriers. This means that the program, even if it doesn’t pay off, will receive a certain incentive for development,” Gusarov believes. The only thing left to do is to find a compromise between the requirements of civilian and military customers, because their ideas about what a new transporter should be like differ. Author: Yablochkin KirillPhoto: 4 avia.pro / Vadim-Savitsky / ilyushin.org / Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / antonov.com / avid.ru / militaryarms.ru
In Russia, work continues on the creation of a new heavy military transport aircraft, which should replace the proven, but already quite outdated Il-76, An-22 and An-124 Ruslan aircraft. The project received the code name PAK TA, which stands for “Advanced Aviation Complex for Transport Aviation.” Currently, it is at the initial stage, designers and the military are determining the appearance and characteristics of future aircraft, so there is still little information about the new machine (or family of machines) and it is quite contradictory.
A new transport aircraft would come in handy not only for the military. In 2019, one of the largest Russian transport companies, Volga-Dnepr, announced plans to purchase 20 American Boeing 747-8F cargo aircraft. The amount of this transaction amounts to billions of dollars. It is likely that Russian carriers would have preferred a domestic transport aircraft if it existed in nature.
Military transport aviation: current state
Currently, the transport aviation of the Russian Armed Forces has four types of aircraft, the main difference of which is their carrying capacity. These are light transport aircraft (An-26) with a payload of 6 tons, medium (An-12, load capacity 20 tons), heavy (Il-76, load up to 60 tons) and super-heavy aircraft, which include the An-124 "Ruslan" , capable of carrying a load of 120 tons. The total number of transport vehicles in service with the Russian army is about 250 units.
In addition to the armed forces, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations also has its own transport aircraft. It consists of Il-76 and An-74.
The most popular military transport aircraft of the Russian army (about 100 units) is the Il-76 of various modifications. In 2012, a modification of the Il-76MD-90A aircraft appeared, with more economical engines and modern on-board equipment.
In the Soviet Union, the main design bureau that was involved in the development of transport vehicles was the Kiev Antonov Design Bureau. The lion's share of transport aircraft, which are used today both in the army and in civilian life, was developed by the designers of this bureau. After the collapse of the USSR, difficult times began for this aircraft manufacturing enterprise. Antonov is still engaged in the development and construction of aircraft, but the number of aircraft produced has decreased significantly.
Serial production of the pride of the Soviet aviation industry, the An-124 Ruslan super-heavy aircraft, has long ceased, and the service life of the machines that are used today is gradually being exhausted. In August 2019, the Antonov State Enterprise prohibited Russian enterprises from independently carrying out maintenance of the An-124. This could lead to the fact that Russian aircraft will simply not be allowed to leave the country.
Over the years since the collapse of the USSR, Russian and Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly tried to revive former cooperation in the aircraft manufacturing field, but most of these attempts remained unrealized. The current situation in relations between the two countries will likely put an end to cooperation in this area.
How are things going with transport aviation among potential adversaries?
The United States has the world's largest fleet of transport aircraft, with more than 400 aircraft of several types. In many ways, this allows the American army to conduct large-scale operations many thousands of kilometers from its borders. The main transport aircraft of the US Air Force (and the entire NATO bloc) are the C-130 Hercules (19 tons of cargo capacity) and the C-17 Globemaster III (can lift up to 80 tons of cargo) and the C-5 Galaxy (up to 120 tons of cargo).
Currently, Europeans and Americans consider the development and mass production of transport vehicles with a carrying capacity of over one hundred tons to be expensive and unnecessary exotic, although they do not hesitate to hire Ruslans to transport military and civilian cargo.
Russian promising projects
In 2014, the plans of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation regarding the implementation of the PAK TA program were announced. The characteristics of the new transport aircraft for the Russian army were surprising, to put it mildly.
According to the information announced, the PAK TA will have supersonic speed (about 2000 km/h), a flight range of at least 7 thousand kilometers and a payload capacity of up to 200 tons. By 2024, the Russian armed forces should receive at least 80 such monsters. According to the developers, this air fleet will be able to quickly deliver an armored fist of 400 (!!!) ultra-modern Armata tanks and other armored vehicles created on its basis to any point on the globe.
The PAK TA will have a deck with several levels, as well as the ability to land any equipment.
Such characteristics do not look very realistic: a supersonic aircraft of this payload (and size) must consume a huge amount of fuel, only special runways are suitable for it. In addition, the technical difficulties that will certainly arise for the creators of such an aircraft are unlikely to be within the capabilities of the modern Russian aviation industry, and the cost of production and maintenance of such machines will be prohibitive.
In addition to the above-mentioned project, materials about other promising transport aircraft, also called PAK TA, appear in the domestic media with enviable regularity.
First of all, we are talking about the Ilyushin Il-106 vehicles and the Ermak PTS.
Il-106 is a rather old Ilyushin project, the development of which began in the mid-80s. Then a competition was announced to create a new transport aircraft that would replace the Il-76. The design bureaus of Tupolev, Ilyushin and Antonov presented their proposals, and the Ilyushin project was recognized as the winner. The new aircraft was designated Il-106, it was planned to be completed before 1995, and put into production in 1997. For obvious reasons, this never happened.
According to the project, the Il-106 had a payload capacity of up to 100 tons, was made according to a classic aerodynamic design and could transport cargo over a distance of 5 thousand km. The new aircraft was planned to be equipped with front and rear cargo ramps.
In 2019, the general designer of Ilyushin, Nikolai Talikov, told the TASS agency that the new PAK TA is nothing more than a modified Il-106. It is likely that the old Soviet design will serve as the basis for a new transport aircraft. Information has emerged that the new aircraft will be equipped with the most powerful Russian civil aircraft engine, the NK-93. There is information that preliminary design of the PAK TA began in 2019.
Another vehicle that is often mentioned when mentioning the PAK TA is the Ermak PTS. This is also a project of the Ilyushin Design Bureau, the first mention of which appeared in 2013. The new vehicle will have characteristics similar to the Il-106: payload capacity of up to 100 tons, normal aerodynamic design. Work on the creation of Ermak is planned to begin in 2019. Serial production of the machine is expected by 2024.
It is likely that the basis for the creation of “Ermak” will be developments on the Il-106 aircraft.
To successfully implement the complex project to create a modern super-heavy transport aircraft, a new corporation will be created: in addition to OJSC Il, it will include EMZ im. V.M. Myasishchev" and "UAC - Transport Aircraft", as well as the two largest Russian aircraft factories - Ulyanovsk and Voronezh (VASO).
