Ilyushin Il-102

Il-102

Picture - Ilyushin Il-102 in display

Role: Ground-attack aircraft
Manufacturer: Ilyushin
First flight: 1982
Status: Prototype
Number built: 2
Developed from: Ilyushin Il-40

The Ilyushin Il-102 was an experimental jet powered ground-attack aircraft designed by Ilyushin. This aircraft was never chosen for production, being surpassed by the Su-25, and only a few development prototypes were built.

Design and development

In 1967, the Soviet Air Forces drew up a specification for a jet powered shturmovik or armoured ground attack aircraft. While Sukhoi designed an all-new single seat aircraft, the Su-25, Ilyushin proposed a modified version of their Il-40 of 1953 under the designation Il-42, which unlike the Sukhoi was a two seat aircraft with a remotely controlled rear gun turret. The design was rejected by the Soviet Air Forces, but Ilyushin decided to continue development as a private venture, renaming the programme Il-102.

The Il-102 first prototype flew on 25 September 1982, with a second airframe built for static tests, and carried out 250 test flights until it was grounded in 1984 when the engine life expired.

Picture - The tail turret of the Il-102, armed with a GSh-23L twin barreled cannon

The Il-102 was a low winged monoplane with moderately swept (30 degrees) wings and powered by two Klimov RD-33I turbofans (non-afterburning versions of the engines that power the Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter). It was highly unusual for its time in having a rear gun turret, something not seen in ground attack aircraft since the World War II Il-2 Shturmovik and Il-10, the Il-102's spiritual ancestors, controlled remotely by a gunner sitting in a cockpit above the trailing edge of the wing. The crew cockpits, engines and fuel tanks were armoured to protect against ground fire.

Although development was abandoned in 1984, the prototype Il-102 was publicly unveiled at the 1992 Mosaeroshow air show at Zhukovsky, being claimed to be available for export.

Specifications

Data from The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 17.75 m (58 ft 2â…ž in)
Wingspan: 16.9 m (55 ft 5⅜ in)
Height: 5.08 m (16 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 63.5 m² (683.5 ft²)
Empty weight: 13,000 kg (28,000 lb)
Loaded weight: 18,000 kg (39,683 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 22,000 kg (48,500 lb)
Powerplant: 2x— Klimov RD-33I turbofan, 51 kN (11,465 lbf) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 950 km/h (513 kn, 590 mph)
Combat radius: 400-500 km (300-378 nmi, 345-435 mi)
Ferry range: 3,000 km (1,621 nmi, 1,864 mi)
Wing loading: 283 kg/m² (58.1 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.58

Armament

Guns:
The under-wing pylons of the Il-102, armed with unguided rocket pods
1 x— 30mm GSh-30-2 cannon externally mounted under fuselage
1 x— 23 mm GSh-23L cannon in remotely controlled tail turret
Bombs: 7,200 kg (15,873 lb) external stores in six wing bomb bays and eight external pylons (six under wing and two under fuselage)
The under-wing bomb-bays of the Il-102, armed with bombs

Picture - The under-wing pylons of the Il-102, armed with unguided rocket pods

Related development

Ilyushin Il-40

Comparable aircraft

A-10 Thunderbolt II
Northrop YA-9
Sukhoi Su-25

Picture - The under-wing bomb-bays of the Il-102, armed with bombs

Bibliography

"Ilyushin Il-102: Aborted jet shturmovik". World Air Power Journal, Volume 17 Summer 1994. London:Aerospace Publishing, 1994. ISBN 1 874023 43 3. pp. 24-29.
Gunston, Bill. The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995. London:Osprey, 1995. ISBN 1 85532 405 9.

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Source: WikiPedia