The financing of the Ilyushin Il-114 aircraft development program shall start in the fourth quarter of this year, Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Andrei Boginsky said.
“The funds will be furnished for the program in the fourth quarter of this year. The decision has been made, and a request has been submitted by the Industry and Trade Ministry. Around 55 billion rubles ($846 million) are to be set aside”, he said.
According to Boginsky, over 2 billion rubles ($30 million) have been allocated for this year.
“The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has begun design digitization and development work. In addition, the manufacturing plant is being re-equipped”, the deputy minister said.
Mikhail Babich, presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District, says the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod has been selected as prime contractor for the Il-114 development program.
“We discussed the last details that enabled us to conclude that the Il-114’s final assembly would be handled by the Nizhny Novgorod-based Sokol plant. This makes it feasible to build the plane quickly and at the right cost and then to continue developing the manufacturing plant”, he said.
Babich has also said the plane’s production entry is slated for 2020 or 2021.
According to UAC President Yuri Slyusar, “the status of the program is high enough now”.
“We are also using the groundwork laid in the Soviet and post-Soviet times, including the fuselage manufactured by the Tashkent-based plant named after Chkalov (Tashkent Aircraft Production Association, TAPO). This will expedite the maiden flight that, hopefully, will take place in 2019”, he said.
According to the top manager, about 40% of the components of the plane will be manufactured in the Volga Federal District, and the Il-114’s delivery is expected to commence in 2021.
The Il-114 is a family of aircraft developed by the Ilyushin Design Bureau in the 1980s. By order of the Russian president, dated October 14, 2014, the Aviakor plant is to launch the production of an upgraded variant of the plane for the Defense Ministry and commercial customers. (Russian Aviation/Business World Magazine)