Russia took delivery of first upgraded Il-80 "Doomsday" aircraft

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World Aviation Defense & Security News - Russia
 
 
Russia took delivery of first upgraded Il-80 "Doomsday" aircraft
 
The first airborne command post has been delivered to the Russian Defense Ministry, a spokesman for Russia’s United Instrument-Manufacturing Corporation told TASS on Wednesday. The United Instrument-Manufacturing Corporation is a subsidiary of Russia’s state hi-tech corporation Rostec.
     
Russia took delivery of first upgraded Il 80 airborne command post 640 001One of the four Il-80 Maxdome airborne command posts before modernisation
(Credit: Kirill Naumenko)
     
In all, the Russian Defense Ministry ordered two second-generation airborne command posts, the spokesman said.

"The Russian Defense Ministry assigned a task to manufacture two second-generation airborne command posts. The work is being carried out by the Polyot Enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod [in the Volga area]," the spokesman added.

It was reported in late 2015 that the United Instrument-Manufacturing Corporation had produced an upgraded Ilyushin Il-80 (NATO reporting name: Maxdome) airborne command post for the Defense Ministry in cooperation with the United Aircraft-Manufacturing Corporation.

It was also reported that the Russian Defense Ministry was planning to order another Ilyushin Il-80 airborne command post.

Second-generation airborne command posts are expected to be operational until 2025.

"The aircraft is reliable. Its service life can equal 20 years in accordance with the documents," the source told TASS.

"However, aircraft of this type will be upgraded earlier in modern conditions. They are expected to be operational until 2025," the source added.

General Designer of Russia’s Ilyushin Aviation Complex Nikolai Talikov said earlier that the service life of such planes would equal 25-30 years.

Russia’s IL-80 (NATO reporting name: Maxdome) is in service with the 8th Special Purpose Aviation Division, at Chkalovsky Airport, near Moscow. The aircraft is meant to keep the top Russian officials, including the President, alive and safe in case of nuclear war: for this reason, the Maxdome does not feature any external windows (other than the cockpit windshield) and it is equipped with domes, bulges and antennas meant to block EMP, RF pulse, and to shield against nuclear blasts while ensuring the ability to communicate with other assets including ballistic missile submarines when the ground infrastructure is heavily damaged or destroyed.
     
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