IL 96 400 resumption of production. The Russian long-haul airliner is preparing for a rebranding. But a lot has changed since then

At first I wanted to give the article as a separate material, and then I thought that it would be better to put such information together.

MS-21 - liner with a "black" wing

There are only three aircraft in world civil aviation whose wings are made of polymer composite materials (PCM). These are Boeing B787 Dreamliner, Airbus A350 XWB and Bombardier CSeries. More recently, the Russian MS-21 also made up the company of this trio.

One of the advantages of composite parts is their resistance to corrosion and damage propagation. Composites can be called universal materials, they can be used in aircraft construction, the defense industry, shipbuilding and other areas in which increased requirements are placed on the material in terms of such characteristics as strength and rigidity, good resistance to brittle fracture, heat resistance, stability of properties during a sharp change in temperature, durability .

The manufacture of composite parts in the aircraft industry is carried out by autoclave molding - obtaining multilayer products from the so-called prepregs - composite semi-finished products obtained by pre-impregnation of carbon fabrics with a polymer resin. One of the significant disadvantages of this technology is the high cost of the obtained parts, which is largely determined by the duration of the molding process, the limited shelf life of prepregs, and the high cost of process equipment. According to regulatory documents, the warranty period of prepreg storage in a freezer in the temperature range from -19°С to -17°С is 12 months. The storage time of the prepreg at a temperature of 20±2°C is 20 days, while the workpiece can be laid out in the conditions of the production site only for 10 days.

An alternative to the prepreg-autoclave technology are "direct" processes, the essence of which is to combine the operations of impregnation of carbon fiber or fiberglass with a binder and molding of the part, which leads to a reduction in the production cycle time, a reduction in energy and labor costs and, as a result, to a reduction in cost technologies. One of these processes is the vacuum infusion method - Vacuum Infusion, VARTM.

According to this technology, the impregnation of dry carbon fiber and the molding of the part takes place on a tooling with a vacuum bag attached to it. The polymer binder is pumped into the mold due to the vacuum created under the vacuum bag. This allows you to significantly reduce the cost of pre-production of large structures due to the possibility of using simpler and cheaper tooling. The main disadvantages of vacuum infusion technology include, first of all, the difficulties of reproducibility of the process - a thorough development of the technology is necessary in order to obtain parts with stable geometric and physical-mechanical characteristics.

In a 2006 US survey, US aerospace manufacturers concluded that the vacuum infusion method was not sufficiently researched and developed for use in the manufacture of large Tier 1 parts in passenger airliners.

But a lot has changed since then.

As is known, the fuselage and wings of the wide-body airliner Boeing B787 Dreamliner are made of PCM, which are produced by the autoclave-prepreg method. Also for this aircraft, the German company Premium Aerotec uses the VAP (Vacuum Assisted Process) method for the manufacture of pressure bulkheads, Boeing Aerostructures (formerly Hawker de Havilland) uses the CAPRI (Controlled Atmospheric Pressure Resin Infusion) method to produce deflectable aerodynamic elements of the keel, wing and tail unit: ailerons, flaperons, flaps and spoilers. The Canadian company Bombardier uses the LRI method and autoclave polymerization to manufacture the wings of the CSeries family of aircraft. GKN Aerospace from the UK in May 2016 demonstrated a composite center section manufactured by non-autoclave vacuum infusion using an inexpensive set of tools and equipment.

The Russian plant "Aerocomposite" in Ulyanovsk is the first in the world civil aviation to use the non-autoclave vacuum infusion method (VARTM) for the manufacture of large integrated structures of the first level from PCM.

The wings and empennage of a typical narrow-body aircraft account for 45% of the airframe's weight, with the fuselage accounting for another 42%. UAC sees a challenge that needs to be solved in order to succeed in the face of fierce competition in the narrow-body aircraft market - if the optimal use of composites in the design of the MS-21 will reduce the weight of the liner and reduce production costs by 45%, then both the aircraft and Russian technological companies will strengthen their positions in the global aircraft industry.

Why vacuum infusion?

A 2009 study showed that using an oven instead of an autoclave can reduce capital costs from $2 million to $500,000. For parts from 8 m² to 130 m², an oven can cost 1/7 to 1/10 the cost of a comparable autoclave size. In addition, the cost of dry fiber and liquid composite aggregate can be up to 70% less than the same materials in a prepreg. The MS-21 has a wing size of 3x36 meters for the 200th and 300th models, and 3x37 meters for the MS-21-400 model. The size of the center section is 3x10 meters. Thus, the cost savings of "Aerocomposite" seems to be very significant.

However, Anatoly Gaidansky, General Director of CJSC Aerocomposite, explains that the cost of autoclaves and prepregs was not the only criterion for deciding in favor of the vacuum infusion method. This technology makes it possible to create large integral structures that work as a whole.

By order of CJSC Aerocomposite, the Austrian companies Diamond Aircraft and Fischer Advanced Composite Components (FACC AG) manufactured 4 ten-meter prototype wing boxes, which from the summer of 2011 to March 2014 passed the entire complex of strength tests at TsAGI, and an experimental docking of the caisson prototype was carried out wings with a center section. These studies, firstly, confirmed that the design parameters laid down by the designers ensure flight safety, and secondly, the use of large integral structures significantly reduces the assembly labor intensity, reduces the number of parts and fasteners.

Anatoly Gaidansky adds to this: “Dry carbon fiber can be stored almost indefinitely, which is impossible with prepregs. Infusion allows us to provide adaptive production planning based on program scale.”

At present, the vacuum infusion method is planned to be used for the manufacture of large power integral elements of the first level: spars and wing skin with stringers, sections of the center section panels, power elements and skin of the keel and tail. These elements will be manufactured and assembled at the Aerocomposite plant in Ulyanovsk.

Prepregs and autoclave molding technology will be used at KAPO-Composite in Kazan, a joint venture between CJSC Aerocomposite and the Austrian FACC AG. Fairings, elements of wing mechanization will be produced here: ailerons, spoilers, flaps, as well as elevators and rudders.

Autoclaves at the KAPO-Composite plant in Kazan / Photo (c) Aerocomposite JSC

Technology development

The technology for the production of the "black" wing of the MS-21 aircraft was created by AeroComposite specialists in close cooperation with foreign manufacturers of technological equipment. The vacuum infusion method has existed for many years, but such a large and complex product as an aircraft wing was first made using this technology in Ulyanovsk.

No one has ever used automatic laying out of dry material for the manufacture of large integral structures in the aircraft industry.

From 2009 to 2012, Aerocomposite worked with various companies around the world to select materials and repeatable process technology of the required accuracy and quality. Resins, dry carbon fiber and prepregs from American companies Hexcel and Cytec were selected. Coriolis Composites supplied robotic plants for dry automated laying of carbon filler; wing spars are produced on this equipment. The gantry-type robotic dry laying plant, on which the wing panels are made, was supplied by the Spanish MTorres. Thermal infusion centers TIAC are developed by the French company Stevik.

According to Anatoly Gaidansky, the process of vacuum infusion itself does not impose special requirements on the design of structural elements of the wing, it mainly influences the development of technological equipment, where a balance must be maintained between the ability to produce parts with high accuracy, while maintaining the efficiency of the infusion process. . In the research laboratory of ZAO Aerocomposite, a large number of tests were carried out with materials, parts and sample elements to determine this balance. As a result, a fabric was chosen in which the carbon fiber was not intertwined, but was fastened into a single fabric with the help of a polymer thread. Due to the fact that the fiber is not intertwined, it has practically no mechanical damage that affects the strength of the part.

“We tested materials with an open structure to find out the fluidity of the resin, as well as a denser fiber, which requires other means of filler permeability, such as, for example, the gap between the tapes,” says Gaydansky.

MTorres was one of the key contributors to the material selection process as the Spanish company experimented a lot with different dry fiber machine layup options. Although it already had significant experience gained in 2009 in the development of fiberglass blades for Gamesa windmills, in 2012 a contract was signed with Aerocomposite to develop equipment for the automated laying of dry carbon fiber, which seemed to be a much more difficult task. . Composite products usually consist of several layers of carbon fiber with different orientation angles - such fabric laying is necessary to optimize the resistance to loading in various directions, since the composite wing during the operation of the aircraft is exposed to a complex external load that works both in compression and in tension, and for twisting.

“Dry material, unlike prepregs, is by definition not impregnated with any resin, and thus moves easily from the position it has been laid,” explains MTorres Sales Director Juan Solano. “Our task was to somehow fix the material for accurate automated laying out and make sure that it does not change its position in the future.”

To solve this problem, a very thin layer of thermoplastic was used as a binder to hold the fiber in place. Mr. Solano says that to activate the tie layer, MTorres developed a heat dissipation device that is placed at the head of the preform and provides minimal sticking. This decision made the automated display process viable.

When choosing carbon fiber and composite resin, the goal was to standardize as much as possible on the materials that would be used to make both the wing and center section panels. Hexcel's HiTape material has been modified to meet MTorres requirements for automated layup and fiber orientation accuracy. Hexcel claims that with HiTape it is possible to achieve an automated stacking speed of 50 kg/h. However, Anatoly Gaidansky clarifies: “At the moment, for the very beginning of our program, we are aiming for a laying speed of 5 kg/h. However, in the future, we will improve the technology to improve the productivity of manufacturing complex structures. Relevant studies are currently underway in our laboratory.”

Manual cutting of carbon fiber in the research laboratory of CJSC "Aerocomposite"

After fiber placement, the preform is placed in a TIAC thermal infusion machine. TIAC is an integrated system that consists of an injection module, a heating module and a software and hardware system to ensure the automation of the infusion process with precise adherence to the specified technological parameters. The plant mixes, heats and degasses the epoxy resin, controls the process of filling the vacuum bag with resin and the polymerization process. TIAC monitors and controls the temperature and amount of resin entering the preform, filling rate, vacuum bag and preform integrity. The vacuum level is controlled with an accuracy not exceeding 1/1000 bar - 1 mibar.

Automated thermal infusion center TIAC 22×6 meters

Spar in the thermal infusion center

Center section panel in the thermal infusion center

The duration of the production cycle varies from 5 to 30 hours, depending on the type, size and complexity of the part being manufactured. The polymerization process takes place at a temperature of 180°C and can be maintained with an accuracy of ±2°C up to a maximum value of 270°C.

How it happens in reality

The manufacturing process of the MS-21 wing box is as follows:

1. Preparation of equipment and laying out auxiliary materials.
2. Laying dry carbon tape and preforming in automatic mode on laying equipment.
3. Assembly of the vacuum bag.
4. Infusion (impregnation) of a dry billet in a thermal infusion automated center.
5. Disassembly of the package and cleaning of parts.
6. Carrying out non-destructive testing.
7. Machining and geometry control.
8. Painting and assembly.

All work is carried out in a “clean room”, in which the number of dispersive particles in the air does not exceed their number in a sterile operating room, because if even a small speck of dust gets into carbon fiber, it becomes of poor quality and the product will go to waste.

After laying out the spars preforms, they go to the section for moving from the positive tooling to the negative one, and the preforms of the wing panel skin go to the section for moving the laying tooling into the infusion tool. Here, the snap is sealed in a special envelope, to which tubes are connected from different sides. Air is pumped out one at a time, and a binder is supplied through the others due to the resulting vacuum.

Stringers and panels are laid out of carbon fiber separately, but on a special tooling they are already filled with composite resin together. The polymerization of the panel with stringers in infusion technology occurs in one cycle. Autoclave technology requires two curing cycles: 1st cycle - curing stringers, 2nd cycle - joint curing of stringers and sheathing, while the total time costs are 5%, and energy costs are 30% higher than using VARTM technology .

The vacuum infusion method in one impregnation cycle makes it possible to create an integral monolithic part, as opposed to glue-riveted autoclave structures, where the adhesive film is placed between the stringer and the skin, and the process of installing mechanical fasteners for additional fixation of the stringers increases the complexity of manufacturing panels up to 8%.

Further, the preforms are moved to automated thermal infusion centers with dimensions of working areas of 22x6x4 m and 6x5.5x3 m, depending on the size of the part. Here the process of infusion and polymerization of the product takes place.

The stand of the assembly line, which will be used for the final docking of the wing panels of the MS-21 aircraft

At the end of the infusion, the part enters the area for non-destructive ultrasonic testing. Here, on the Technatom robotic installation, the quality and reliability of the received part is assessed - the absence of cracks, cavities, unevenness of the hardened filler, etc. Non-destructive testing is of particular importance in the creation and operation of vital products, which, in particular, is the wing of an aircraft.

The next stage is the machining of the part on the MTorres 5-axis milling center, after which the finished panel or spar enters the wing box assembly area.

What does a composite wing provide?

Air flow around a wing of finite span - the occurrence of inductive resistance

As a result, two vortex bundles are formed behind the ends of the wing, which are called wake jets. The energy spent on the formation of these vortices determines the inductive drag of the wing. To overcome the inductive resistance, additional energy of the engines is expended, and, consequently, an additional amount of fuel.

Inductive drag is absent in a wing of infinite elongation, but a real aircraft cannot have such a wing. To assess the aerodynamic perfection of the wing, there is the concept of "aerodynamic quality of the wing" - the higher it is, the more perfect the aircraft. It is possible to improve the aerodynamic quality of a wing by increasing its effective elongation - the longer the wing, the lower its inductive drag, the lower the fuel consumption, and the greater the flight range.

Aircraft designers have always sought to increase the effective aspect ratio of the wing. For the MS-21 wing, a supercritical profile was chosen - a profile in which the upper surface is almost flat, and the lower one is convex. One of the advantages of such a profile is the ability to create a high aspect ratio wing, and in addition, such a wing makes it possible to increase cruising flight speed without increasing drag. The laws of aerodynamics force swept wings to be made thin, a supercritical airfoil wing can be made thick without increasing aerodynamic drag. The design of such a wing turns out to be easier and more technologically advanced to manufacture than a thin one, and a larger supply of fuel can be placed in the resulting internal space.

The typical wing aspect ratio for aircraft of past generations was 8–9, for modern ones it was 10–10.5, and for the MS-21 it was 11.5. In order to make a high aspect ratio aluminum wing, it would be necessary to significantly increase the thickness of the wing in order to maintain its rigidity. aluminum is a soft metal, and an increase in wing thickness is an increase in drag. CFRP is a much more rigid material, therefore, even without the use of winglets, the high elongation MS-21 composite wing, formed by thin supercritical profiles (practically flat upper and convex lower surfaces), makes it possible to obtain 5-6% better aerodynamic quality at cruising flight speeds than the latest foreign analogues, and thereby achieve a greater flight range with lower fuel consumption, which ultimately increases the economic efficiency of the liner and its competitive advantage

Right composite wing console MS-21

Laying out the lower panel of the future wing of the MS-21 aircraft at the AeroComposite-Ulyanovsk plant

There has never been anything like this in our aviation industry. To be honest, I have not seen anything like this on a Boeing with Airbus. And being at the plant, where all the employees are in white coats and shoe covers, special requirements for air quality and you see your reflection in the floor covering, you can’t believe that all this is in Russia. For the first time in modern history, we are not trying to replicate old proven technologies, and we are not trying to blindly copy foreign experience, but we are innovators and want to be at the technological forefront of the global civil aircraft industry.

Conclusion

The overwhelming superiority of the Western aviation industry in technology, technical equipment, the level of properties of the structural materials used, and the efficiency of approaches to the organization of design and production processes provide American and European civil aircraft with competitive qualities that could not be implemented in products of the domestic aviation industry until today. Such promising projects as the MS-21, designed to become the “locomotives” of the comprehensive modernization of the civil aircraft industry in Russia, should change the current situation. Already in the process of carrying out experimental work at the stage of detailed design, the participants of the MS-21 Program created a groundwork for the formation of modern production, focused on the most advanced technologies.

On September 29, 2016, the World Trade Center hosted the award ceremony for the winners and laureates of the Aircraft Builder of the Year competition. Members of the Expert Council considered over 100 works of enterprises, organizations and creative teams. The results of the competition were summed up at the meeting of the Organizing Committee on September 5, 2016. The winner of the nomination "For the creation of a new technology" was the center of competence of the United Aircraft Corporation - the AeroComposite company for the development and application of the vacuum infusion method when creating the composite wing of the new MS-21-300 passenger aircraft. Anatoly Gaydansky, General Director of AeroComposite JSC, in turn, thanked the team, partners and everyone who has been working together to implement this project for seven years.

An-124 "Ruslan" - strategic military transport aircraft

InoSMI - Science

Wikipedia

Photo (c) UAC/Aviastar-SP/Irkut Corporation http://aviation21.ru/ms-21-lajner-s-chyornym-krylom/

Andrey Velichko,
August 2016

The prototype of the modernized Il-96-400M aircraft should make its first flight in 2019. Work has already begun, a number of contracts have been signed, and funds are being allocated from the budget. Currently, the cost of the program is estimated at more than 53.0 billion rubles. Of these, 10.0 billion will go to development work, 1.5 billion - to the technical re-equipment of the Voronezh aircraft plant VASO and cooperation enterprises, 42.0 billion rubles. - for additional capitalization of the leasing company, which will act as the customer of these aircraft (in September last year, the Vedomosti newspaper wrote that the first series of Il-96-400M will be 6–8 aircraft). Engine costs are funded separately.

The decision of the authorities to actually restart the Il-96-400M program is difficult to assess unambiguously. Arguments against are much easier to find, and they look very convincing.

First of all, no competitiveness in the world market can be expected - there will be no demand at all. The current situation with the Boeing 747-8I aircraft, the third generation of the famous long-haul wide-body aircraft, can be cited as confirmation. The first flight of the Boeing 747-8I took place in 2011, the start of commercial operation - in 2012 (launch customer - Lufthansa). In a typical three-class layout, the aircraft can carry up to 467 passengers. at a distance of over 15 thousand km. Compared to its predecessor, the Boeing 747-400, which also cannot be called an unsuccessful aircraft, the capacity of the new version is 51 people. more, fuel efficiency is 16% higher, unit cost per seat-kilometre is reduced by 13%, and noise levels are reduced by 30%. However, as of January 2017, only 48 orders were received for the aircraft, and only three aircraft were ordered for the entire 2016. The reason is that four-engine long-haul aircraft are strategically outperformed by their twin-engine competitors. With a somewhat smaller capacity (about 400 passengers), modern twin-engine aircraft provide the same flight range and better economic characteristics - in particular, unit cost per seat-kilometer.

You have read 17% of the text.

This is a closed portal site material.
The full text of the material is available only by paid subscription.

Subscribing to the materials of the site provides access to all closed materials of the site:

• - unique content - news, analytics, infographics - created every day by the editors of the site;
• - extended versions of articles and interviews published in the paper version of the Air Transport Review magazine;
• - the entire archive of the journal "Air transport review" from 1999 to the present moment;
• - each new issue of the Air Transport Review magazine until the paper version is out of print and delivered to its subscribers.

Auto payment service. Two days before the end of your subscription, the subscription payment for the next period will be automatically debited from your bank card, but we will warn you about this in advance in a separate letter. You can unsubscribe from this service at any time in your account on the Subscription tab.

On September 28, 1988, the first flight of the Il-96 long-range passenger aircraft took place. This machine, which received recognition including overseas, was supposed to replace various versions of the Il-86 in the Soviet civil fleet. However, the collapse of the USSR and the economic crisis of the 1990s prevented ambitious plans. In 2014, the liner, designed by specialists from the Ilyushin Design Bureau, was finally withdrawn from the Aeroflot fleet. Today, several Il-96 aircraft are operated by a special flight squad "Russia" and the Cuban airline Cubana. Last year, a decision was made to modernize the aircraft, funds were allocated for the production of seven Il-96-400M. What tasks will the updated machine solve, RT found out.

On September 28, 1988, the long-haul passenger liner Il-96 took off for the first time. The car took off from the Tushino airfield. The plane was piloted by the honored test pilot Stanislav Bliznyuk, who received the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union two years later.

The development of the liner started in 1978 under the guidance of Doctor of Technical Sciences, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Genrikh Novozhilov, the successor of the legendary designer Sergei Ilyushin. In the future, the IL-96 was supposed to replace the IL-86, which is considered the most massive Soviet wide-body aircraft.

Initially, the Ilyushins planned to install a four-engine turbojet power plant NK-56 of the Kuibyshev plant (now Kuznetsov OJSC) on the newest liner. Work on the creation of the motor began in 1979. Volga engineers took the NK-25, which flies the Tu-22M3 long-range bomber, as a basis.

However, in 1983, by decision of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry, work on the NK-56 was stopped. The department opted for the PS-90 turbofan engine, the brainchild of the Perm Motor Plant, which has less thrust (up to 16 tons). In this regard, it was necessary to shorten the fuselage, reduce the span and wing area. Passenger capacity was reduced from 350 to 300 people.

“PS-90 was designed for the medium-haul Tu-204. At first glance, we see obvious contradictions. However, the ministry proceeded from the need to unify engines for civil aviation. This is the right vector, and we must admit that the bet on the PS-90 family has generally justified itself, ”said Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the AviaPort agency, in an interview with RT.

Unrealized dream

The stage of testing the Il-96-300 fell at the end of the 1980s - a period of rapid destruction of the economy and statehood of the USSR. Under these conditions, domestic aircraft manufacturers could not count on the full support of the authorities and demand in the domestic market.

In order to further develop the project, in December 1990, the Ilyushin Design Bureau entered into an agreement with the American corporations Pratt & Whitney (specializes in the production of engines) and Rockwell Collins (the world leader in the field of avionics). As test pilot Hero of Russia Anatoly Knyshov recalled, overseas experts were amazed at the capabilities of the Il-96.

“When in the 1990s I flew to the States on an Il-96, and I still had fuel in my tanks for another three hours of flight, the Americans were terribly surprised. One of the representatives of their aviation authorities then directly stated: for some positions, this type of aircraft is unattainable for us, ”Knyshov said earlier.

Why is our government interested in the development of the aviation industry?
Patamushta, we still know how to do it. And the production of aircraft is not winemaking - time works against us: the farther the more expensive the entrance ticket to this market, which is simply huge and continues to grow.
Boeing and Airbass are supermonsters, producing more than a hundred aircraft a year. In addition, Japan and China also have aircraft that are almost ready to compete with the SuperJet - a year or two and they will go into series.
True, Chinese is a bit worse than ours, and Japanese will, for sure, be much more expensive.
We have not forgotten how to make military aircraft, but the civilian market is ten times larger.
There were so many groans, tragic predictions about the launch of the SuperJet and nothing, it flies slowly. There are even decent chances that, as a result, the cost of its production will go to zero.
The second Russian aircraft is the almost finished MS-21, which has even brighter market prospects.
IL-114 and IL-96-400, why is the government going to build aircraft from the times of the Soviet Union, and not modern airliners?
The fact is that these are already flying aircraft, that is, their re-launch will cost several times less than the production of a new one from scratch, which is important, given the crisis. By the way, these are pretty good planes.
Of course, they are distinguished by slightly higher operating costs, but this can be neglected.
Since the Il-114 is needed for local airlines and the state is interested in the mobility of its citizens, it will help with money. Plus, in Tashkent you can buy six ready-made Il-114 hulls left over from those times.
And the IL-96-400 will be useful to the military as a tanker and "doomsday aircraft".
And there, we’ll fill our hand with them and start making new planes.
In addition, the wider the range of aircraft offered, the more interesting it is for buyers, since they are easier to operate.
And we need to keep up with our non-brothers - a matter of prestige: while we were hanging around pears with all sorts of indecency, Ukraine signed agreements on the construction of aircraft with Latvia, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. Their minister said that they were about to make 200 ANs a year.
**************************************** ********
It is planned to allocate 50 billion rubles from the budget for the program for the production of Il-114 aircraft.
The Il-114 was developed by Ilyushin Design Bureau back in the USSR, in the eighties, and until 2012 it was produced in Tashkent.
Sokol is ready to launch the first Il-114 in 2018 “from the Tashkent backlog,” said Alexander Karezin, executive director of the enterprise, earlier. The plans are to assemble 18 IL-114s annually.

According to the plan, flight tests of this aircraft should begin in 2019, and mass production is planned to be launched in 2020-2021.

Wide-body aircraft based on Il-96

Il-96 became the first long-range aircraft with a wide fuselage, which was built in the USSR. It was made in the late 80s of the last century on the basis of the previous model - Il-86. It is designed to carry 300 passengers and 40 tons of additional cargo, with a flight range of 4,000–9,000 kilometers.

The aircraft entered mass production only in 1993.

Il-96-400 is a deep modernization of Il-96-300 with PS-90A-1 engines and improved avionics. The fuselage was "borrowed" from the Il-96M. The maximum passenger capacity is 435 people. The maximum flight range is 13,000 km.
On the basis of this liner, third-generation air control centers, the so-called doomsday aircraft, will be created. These are aircraft that can be used in the event of a nuclear war if the ground control structures are destroyed.

Several legendary aircraft were produced at once. During the war - the famous Il-2 attack aircraft (the designers called it the "Flying Tank"). In the late 1960s - the world's first supersonic passenger liner Tu-144. Today, the plant produces Il-96, An-148 aircraft, as well as individual units for SSJ 100 and MS-21 aircraft. Work on the Il-112 transport aircraft has been resumed. It is the Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Building Company (VASO) that produces the main aircraft of Russia - the presidential Il-96, better known as Board No. 1.

1. The decision to organize the plant was made in 1929. Until 1966, the plant had only numbered names: first No. 18, then No. 64. During the war years, production lines were evacuated to Kuibyshev (now Samara), after the Victory, the plant in Voronezh was actually restored anew.

2. Over the long years of its history, the Voronezh Aviation Plant has produced such aircraft as the ANT-25 (the crews of Chkalov and Gromov flew over the North Pole to the USA), the legendary Il-2 attack aircraft, the Tu-16 missile carrier, the passenger Il-86 and the first in the world supersonic liner Tu-144.

3. VASO is the country's only manufacturer of long-haul wide-body passenger aircraft Il-96-300. Created in the Design Bureau. Ilyushin, with the direct participation of VACO, the prototype first took to the skies on September 28, 1988. The flight lasted 40 minutes.

4. IL-96 became the first Soviet long-range wide-body aircraft.

5. Modern Il-96-300 can take on board up to 300 passengers. The new modification of the Il-96-400M with a lengthened fuselage, increased wingspan and more powerful engines can accommodate up to 435 passengers.

6. The crew of the aircraft consists of three people (two pilots and a flight engineer). Il-96 became the first aircraft of the Ilov family, the team of which ceased to include a navigator.

7. The so-called "glass" cockpit of the Il-96-300. The main array of aggregate and flight navigation information is displayed on several displays. Traditional round analog instruments only duplicate information. The aircraft's avionics equipment is produced in Russia.

8. Il-96-300 wingspan - more than 57 meters, length - 55 meters, maximum take-off weight 250 tons, payload 40 tons. The maximum flight range is up to 13,500 km.

9. IL-96 takes to the air with the help of four PS-90A. This is a Russian turbofan engine with a maximum thrust of 16,000 kgf (manufactured by OJSC Perm Motor Plant).

10. It was in this workshop of the Voronezh Aviation Plant in the second half of the 1960s that the world's first supersonic passenger liner Tu-144 was assembled. Here, in the late 1970s, the assembly of the Il-86 wide-body airbus began.

In the photo: the installation of the IL-96-300 fuselages is underway here.

11. The fuselage diameter of the Il-96-300 is 6 meters 8 cm. This is only 42 cm less than that of the Boeing-747.

12. Drilling and cutting holes for rivets in the fuselage panels.

13. Wing from the Il-96-300 aircraft. It is difficult to say exactly how much such a wing costs, but there is definitely some truth in the well-known saying “It costs like a wing from an airplane”, because the cost of the entire Il-96-300 starts at $ 40 million and varies greatly depending on the purpose and configuration of a particular board.

14. In 2014, VASO received a large order for the production of 14 wide-body Il-96s of various modifications - until 2024. First of all, we are talking about boards for government agencies. Aircraft manufactured in Voronezh are used by the Special Flight Detachment "Russia" - it serves the leadership of the country, including the President of the Russian Federation. VASO also assembles aircraft commissioned by the Ministry of Defense (in particular, a flying command post, which is popularly called the “doomsday aircraft”). On the basis of the Il-96, it is also planned to create a strategic tanker.

15. An-148 - short-haul narrow-body aircraft, developed in the ASTC. OK. Antonova (Ukraine).

16. Accommodates up to 85 passengers, flight range is about 3500 km.

18. To date, the An-148 is operated in Russia, Ukraine and North Korea.

19. The developer estimates the global demand for a regional liner at 500 boards.

20. In 2015, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, announced that he was choosing the An-148 as his presidential aircraft.

21. The wing of the An-148 is located above the fuselage, due to the large distance from the engines to the ground, the aircraft can operate even from poorly adapted dirt strips.

22. During the installation of the wing, weight models of the power plant are used. The mass of the yellow cube is about 1400 kg, which corresponds to the mass of the D-436-148 gas turbine engine.

23. Since 2012, Angara, based in Irkutsk, has been operating 5 An-148-100E aircraft. They repeatedly landed in Yakutia at a temperature overboard of minus 49 ° C and with a horizontal visibility of 350 meters.

24. 29 An-148 aircraft of various modifications left the stocks of the VASO. They are operated by SLO "Russia" and the FSB. Now the company is fulfilling the order of the Russian Ministry of Defense for the supply of 15 An-148-100E aircraft.

25. Stand layout for preliminary installation of aircraft electrical wiring.

26. The total length of electrical wiring, for example, IL-96-300 - 345 km! For comparison: from Moscow to Voronezh in a straight line 463 km.

27. Installation of electrical equipment in the fuselage. The number of VASO employees is about 5,000 people.

28. In 2013-14, the program for the creation of the Il-112V light military transport aircraft was resumed.

In the photo: manufacturing of F-1 and F-2 fuselage compartments (nose and central) of the first prototype Il-112V in the assembly shop of VASO.

29. Riveting of the nose compartment of the Il-112V.

The aircraft is intended to replace the veteran An-26. The developer of the Il-112V is the Aviation Complex. S.V. Ilyushin, the final assembly is carried out at VASO.

The aircraft will be able to carry up to 6 tons of cargo (or about 40 paratroopers). The flight range is approximately 1000 km. Il-112V will be equipped with two turboprop engines.

30. The first IL-112 is planned to take off in the summer of 2017, and the second sample is to be transferred to static and endurance tests.

31. Serial production may begin around 2019. The capacities of VASO allow the production of 8-12 Il-112 aircraft per year.

32. MS-21 - a project of a family of passenger medium-haul aircraft developed by OKB im. A.S. Yakovlev and the Irkut corporation.

As part of the cooperation, VASO produces: pylons for engines, wings for the main and front landing gear and a wing-fuselage fairing, vertical and horizontal tail elements and other aircraft parts. By 2020, VASO is to supply parts kits for 72 aircraft.

33. In the course of preparing the release of the Il-86 Airbus in the late 1970s, the plant carried out a large-scale reconstruction, new assembly shops with an area of ​​48,000 sq.m were built, the production of parts from composite materials, machining of long workpieces and other technologies were mastered.

35. In 2006, VASO became part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), which unites the largest Russian aviation enterprises.

36. VASO conducts test flights of new aircraft at the experimental airfield "Pridacha", located on the territory of the enterprise. All types of aircraft produced by VASO were tested at this airfield.