OREANDA-NEWS. On July 15, the formal transfer of the first upgraded antisubmarine aircraft Il-38N to the Naval Aviation of the Russian Navy took place. The aircraft received the name of the designer who had developed this modification - “Radiy Papkovsky”.

A number of people participated in the event: General Director of OJSC “Il” Y.M. Yudin, Deputy Director of Special Aviation Programs Office of JSC "UAC" V.G. Vvedensky, representatives of JSC "Myasishchev Design Bureau" and JSC "CSPA "LENINETZ", veterans and active service members of the Naval Aviation, along with relatives of designer Radiy Papkovsky.

General Director of OJSC “Il” Yury Mikhailovich Yudin mentioned that Il-38-type aircraft had been in military service for a long time and had already made a good showing. Now, after the Il-38N has been fitted with new target search and track system “Novella-P-38”, the variation of its missions and combat capabilities of the aircraft have greatly expanded, the aircraft received the second life.

Major contribution to the modernization of the aircraft was made by the Ilyushin designer Radiy Petrovich Papkovsky. He was the one who started the program of upgrade of the Il-38 in the early 90s. “The best memory for a designer is an aircraft. May the aircraft named “Radiy Papkovsky” have a long live, protect our country and become the memory of a wonderful designer”, said Yury Mikhailovich Yudin.

Deputy Director of Special Aviation Programs Office of JSC "UAC" Valery Georgievich Vvedensky also pointed out large intellectual contribution of employees of OJSC “Il”, JSC "Myasishchev Design Bureau" and JSC "CSPA "LENINETZ" to the upgrade of the Il-38N.

Ilyushin test pilot and Hero of Russia Igor Raufovich Zakirov, who was involved in the development of the first Il-38, reported that new navigational and aiming complex would allow the aircraft of this type to remain in service for a long time.

Naval aviation commander from 1994 to 2000, colonel-general Vladimir Grigoryevich Deyneka, told how the antisubmarine Il-38 served our country. Owing to its construction and operating range, it became the first aircraft of long-distance maritime zone.

In his speech the chief of Lipetsk Air Base 859th naval aviation training center, major-general Alexey Igorevich Serdyuk expressed his confidence that Il-38N would increase capabilities of the Russian antisubmarine aviation by several times. “We have been waiting for this aircraft for a long time. It seems symbolic that we will receive this wonderful plane shortly before Naval aviation day”, said Serdyuk.

Alexey Radievich, son of Radiy Petrovich Papkovsky, shared the memories of his father and thanked the Ilyushin team for the organization of the event to immortalize this memory.

The plane took off from the aerodrome in Zhukovsky, controlled by honoured test-pilot V. Irinarkhov, and flew to its home base in Yeysk.

Ilyushin Aviation Complex (OJSC "Il") is a part of JSC United Aircraft Corporation. The company performs a full range of works on development, upgrade, testing, preparation and support of production of aviation equipment, as well as maintenance of early produced Ilyushin aircraft.

United Aircraft Corporation (JSC "UAC") was created by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 20, 2006. Authorized capital of the company is RUB 188.9 billion. The Russian Federation owns 84.33% of company shares.

The president of JSC "UAC" is Mikhail Pogosyan, Doctor of Science and a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.