Rossiya Special Flight Unit latest air command post

On 9 April 2021, the United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC UAC) has conducted the maiden flight of the latest production Ilyushin Il-96-300PU(M1), NATO code name CAMBER, built at the Voronezh Aviation Plant (PJSC VASO, part of Rostec).

The Il-96 shall be delivered to the Russian government as a special operations platform. The aircraft was piloted by the crew commanded by the VASO test pilot Alexander Molokostov and the Ilyushin test pilot Dmitry Komarov.

The new Il-96 flew for about two hours, operating at altitudes between 5,000 and 9,000 metres (16,400-29,500 ft).

This specific aircraft is an Il-96-300PU(M1) version, registration RA-96024 (serial number 00-24, msn 74393203024), and is fitted with four PS-90 high bypass turbofan engines and a large SATCOM antenna on top of the fuselage.

The contract for the construction was signed by the Administrative Department of the President of the Russian Federation which has ordered two additional Il-96-300PU(M1) air command post aircraft back in 2015. Both aircraft have been built (the other one is registered RA-96025, serial number 00-25, msn 74393203025), but the delivery to the Rossiya Special Flight Unit has been postponed several times, from July 2018 to July 2019, then to late 2020 and finally to April 2021.

RA-96024 is the 30th Ilyushin Il-96 completed and is the first Il-96 built at the VASO plant since 2016. To date, the SLO Rossiya Special Flight Unit has ten Il-96-300 series aircraft, of which five command posts - three Il-96-300PU(M1) types, one Il-96-300PU(M) and one Il-96-300PU. Two more Il-96-300 airframes (serials 00-26 and 00-27) have been seen at VASO under construction and these should be completed within an unknown time frame for the state customer.

Photo by Vladimir Syrykh via RussianPlanes.net