Russia will launch the serial production of its latest Ilyushin il-112 military transport plane at the Voronezh Aircraft Enterprise and the prototype will take to the skies for the second time in April, Head of the Ilyushin Aviation Company Yuri Grudinin said, TASS news agency reported.

“We are going to certify Il-76, Il-114-300 and Il-112 planes, the production of which is being planned. In April, we will fly the first Il-112 plane at the Voronezh enterprise and will organize the serial production of il-112s at the Voronezh factory,” the Chief Executive said.

All these planes will be certified under civil standards, he added.

As the press office of the Ilyushin Aircraft Company reported in March 2019, the debut flight of the Il-112V plane was successful.

The Il-112V is the first military transport plane developed in Russia from scratch in the post-Soviet period. The work on the plane’s development has been going on since 2014. The Il-112V is designed to carry up to 5 tons of cargoes and transport personnel. Russia is developing the plane to replace An-26 and An-24 turbo-prop planes.

The plane will come in two modifications: one for civil aviation (the Il-112T) and the other as a military transport aircraft (the Il-112V). It was earlier reported that Russia’s Defense Ministry intended to purchase 62 Il-112V planes.