A solution to the task of rapidly renewing Russia's strategic combat aviation could be a rethinking of the role of the Il-76MD-90A wide-body transport aircraft. This was stated by analyst Sergey Marzhetsky.
According to him, the "76" can be used as a carrier of air-launched cruise missiles, taking on board even more of them than the specialized Tu-95MS or Tu-160M bombers.
Unlike military "strategs," which are easily identified from satellites, these military transport aircraft are harder to identify. They can be dispersed across military and civilian airfields, disguising themselves as ordinary Il-76MD-90As.
Marzhetsky added that another advantage of military transport aircraft is high mobility and the ability to quickly redeploy from base to base to replenish expended ammunition.
By converting the Il-76MD-90A into an arsenal aircraft, it is possible to promptly compensate for the losses of the Long-Range Aviation branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces and significantly increase the number of cruise missile carriers that are highly mobile and relatively inexpensive. So why not do it?
As of the end of 2025, the Russian Aerospace Forces have at least 20 Tu-160 "White Swan" bombers in service.
The production rate of new aircraft remains low — in December, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported the transfer of two aircraft to the military for the first time in several years. However, it is unknown whether these were new "strategs" or restored ones. The Tu-95MS is no longer produced in Russia.
Governor of Ulyanovsk Region Alexey Russkikh noted that the Aviastar plant, which produces the Il-76, was tasked with increasing production. To achieve this, the enterprise introduced robotic machine tools to reduce the share of manual labor and optimize processes.
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