Lead
Every time President Putin visits China, there is always media attention to his special plane, which one is Putin's special plane?
What's so special about this airliner?
Some call it the "Kremlin in the air".
This nickname is not an exaggeration, because Putin's special plane is indeed a Russian-made Il-96 airliner.
Why is this passenger plane rare, there are not even a few Putin's special planes, so how rare are Putin's special planes?
1. Difficulties in the production of the Il-96 airliner.
The Il-96 is an improvement on the Il-86, another previous airliner.
The design prototype of the Il-86 airliner is a commercial airliner designed in 1958 under the technical framework of the Soviet Union's Tibara pressurized water reactor nuclear reactor.
From the design of the Il-86 airliner, you can see that the design framework of the Il-86 airliner does have the original intention of striving to develop to the large-scale of commercial airliners.
In the 60s, the Soviet Union was still building the same civilian airliner, and the Soviet Union designed the world's largest passenger aircraft An-22 with this idea, but this model was a very challenging project for the Soviet aviation industry.
It was precisely because the technical framework of the Soviet Union at that time was difficult to make that the An-22 model was generally improved by using metal materials.
The Soviet Union was doing this at the time, aiming to let the world know that the Soviet Union's aviation industry had unlimited potential, but when it came to actually doing this project, it hit the ceiling of the Soviet Union's technological power at that time.
Therefore, when the Soviet Union wanted to open up its own world and make its civil aviation development better, higher and farther, it urgently asked its aviation industry to upgrade.
At that time, the proposal of Il-86 was based on this.
When the Il-86 was designed, it can be said that it was digested and swallowed, because at that time, although it was well known that the Soviet Union wanted to launch a world-class large aircraft, and it was used as a civil airliner, but at that time, the gap between the Soviet Union and the United States, even slightly worse than the United States, many people felt at the time that the Soviet Union was smarter when it made airplanes, but the model pushed out was too big and not cost-effective, and the reaction to this model was very calm.
The large aircraft owned by the United States at that time still had a relatively high technical content, such as Boeing 727 and Motorola DC-9, these aircraft models are very clean design like Boeing 707, and the cost performance is still very good.
As for the Soviet An-22, everyone knows that the Soviet Union wanted to join in the fun on American passenger planes, but there is nothing eye-catching about the design.
Of course, the Soviet Union did have this idea back then, so that these behemoths could also fly in the blue sky, and finally under the leadership of the United States, the world's largest double-decker passenger aircraft Boeing 747 was launched, which is amazing!
2. Improved design of the Il-96 airliner.
Like the Il-86, there are traces of digestion from the design framework of the An-22, especially in terms of fuselage size and layout, which is why the Il-96 encountered very great resistance when it was just launched.
At that time, the Soviet Union officially launched the research and development of the Il-86 in 1967, and the purpose of research and development at that time was to better carry a large number of goods in the Soviet Union, which also highlighted the serious shortcomings of the Soviet Union in air transportation at that time.
Therefore, in order to make up for this shortcoming, the Soviet Union chose to introduce the Boeing 707, and on this basis, upgraded this model many times, and on this basis, developed and improved the Il-86, which is the Il-96.
From the perspective of the prototype design of the Il-86, the wing of the Il-86 is the wing of the An-22, and the size of the fuselage is somewhat different.
Nowadays, the Il-96 airliner, as well as various types of aircraft, came this way, but when the Il-96 was launched, the number of production was already very limited, and the Il-96 airliner was produced in the 90s, and only more than 30 have been produced until now.
Il-96 airliner in 1993 for the first time test flight, in the face of the new Il-96 model, many domestic airlines are in favor of it, planning to buy the Il-96 directly, in the following time, Il-96 in a large number of test flight contact, only gradually for the domestic understanding.
The Il-96 passenger aircraft has been developed and produced for at least 5 years, which also includes the development, design and production links, so the Il-96 passenger aircraft made its first flight in 1993, which fully proves that this passenger aircraft has the international advanced level.
In terms of the models of the Il-96 airliner, there are a total of 7 different models, namely the Il-96-300, Il-96T, Il-96-400, Il-96M, Il-96-400T, Il-96-300PU and Il-96-300Z.
For the Il96-300, the engines are also conventional V2500 and CFM56, which come from the large American engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and the French company Rheinland, respectively.
The Il-96-300P is mainly for short- and medium-haul passenger aircraft, and the flight mileage is improved, which can fly up to 7,000 kilometers.
The most important thing is that the Il-96-300P passenger aircraft model is also very adaptable, not only in the short-distance transportation of goods, but also in the long-distance transportation of goods, so it can be said that the Il-96-300P is very potential, for the support and expectation of civil aviation is also very large.
But for the Il-96-300P airliner, the biggest pain point is also the most fatal drawback, that is, it appeared too late, and it was the first wave after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was after the collapse of the Soviet Union that the Soviet aviation industry encountered unprecedented difficulties, many aviation factories in the Soviet Union announced the suspension of production one after another, and the Il-96-300P, it was precisely in this way that it was not put on the market in time, making its production more scarce.
3. The Il-96 passenger plane was difficult to deliver.
Since the first test flight of the Il-96-300P in 1993, more than 30 Il-96 passenger aircraft have been produced in the next 20 years on a very limited basis, which is also the speed of resumption of production after a hiatus, which further shows the difficult level of industrial production in the Soviet Union and subsequent independent countries at that time.
In 1999, the Il-96-300P also ended its production time in the Il-96 passenger aircraft, and the last Il-96-300P was produced, which is why the Il-96-300P production number is so small, it is reported that in the end, the Il-96-300P only produced 28, and the Il-96-400 passenger aircraft is in response to the country's call to "support domestic products", and also chose to carry the engine PD-14 developed by Russia itself.
Since then, only 4 Il-96-400 aircraft have been produced, but two of the Il-96-400 prototypes have not yet been designed, and the remaining 2 Il-96-400 airliners, one was sold to the Russian Air Force, and the other Il-96-400 airliner was sold to the Russian Federal Security Service, and one Il-96-400 airliner entered Sokol-Uzbekistan Airlines for assembly, but this Il-96-400 airliner was not sold. It has been mothballed at the airport in Uzbekistan.
In 2010, with the closure of the Il-96 passenger aircraft production line, this also means that the timing of the suspension of the Il-96 passenger aircraft will finally fall in 2020.
A country's local tyrant airliner was independently developed and even manufactured, but no one took the bait for it.
Thus, the Il-96 airliner thus became the furnishings that were hung there and not sold.
In order to open up its own aviation industry, Russia once considered the issue of integrating with Europe and the United States, and was later betrayed and admitted by the United States again and again by peddling F-35.
The Il-96 passenger aircraft, as a local tyrant passenger aircraft in Russia, is certainly not the only piece of the Russian aviation industry, and the Russian Il-96 passenger aircraft only represents a part of the Russian aviation industry.
epilogue
Russia is now empty-handed, and even the Il-96 airliner has not been produced, so not to mention taking over the Il-96 airliner, taking over the Il-96 airliner, not only to solve the production capacity problem of this airliner, but also to adapt from all aspects, as well as the transfer of intellectual property rights, you must know that the production of a large aircraft, not only the aircraft itself, which involves many systems, but also the details, it is a big project.
Therefore, the Russian aviation industry is not too lazy to move, but because there is more production, and there is no problem with no one buying.
Russia is not now choosing to focus on large aircraft, the Russian aviation industry, now focusing on narrow-body passenger aircraft, as well as regional airliners, wide-body long-range passenger aircraft is no longer a priority project of the Russian aviation industry, because the Il-96 airliner, has seen, up to more than 30 years, the production of more than 30 passenger aircraft, who buys?
Russia, as a professional military aircraft production company, the Il-96 passenger aircraft is just an inconspicuous corner, even if the Il-96 passenger aircraft is facing production capacity problems, but Russia is still very strong in the field of military aircraft.
The Russian aviation industry has not abandoned the development of the Il-96 airliner, which is always ongoing.
Russia should appropriately upgrade the technology of the Il-96 airliner, and at the same time strengthen the marketing of the Il-96 airliner, and Russia should also provide policy support for the Il-96 airliner to meet the needs of customers, so as to re-pick up the production line of the Il-96 airliner.