The Russian Il-76MD-90A has received a chance to enter a new market: the Ministry of Industry and Trade is counting on foreign demand for the heavy transport aircraft, and potential customers may include not only military structures. Gennady Abramenkov, Deputy Head of the Ministry, announced the interest in the aircraft from foreign partners at the Eastern Economic Forum.

For now, it's about interest, not signed export contracts. But the geography of potential buyers already looks telling: earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Anton Alikhanov, spoke about the attention to the Il-76MD-90A from countries in the Middle East and East Asia. Now, the Ministry directly calls export one of the promising directions for the aircraft.

The reason for such interest is the capabilities of the machine, which are difficult to replace with lighter transport aircraft. The Il-76MD-90A can carry up to 60 tons of cargo, and with a load of 52 tons, it can fly up to 5000 km. The ferry range reaches 9700 km. For operations in remote areas, delivery of heavy cargo, and work in humanitarian missions, the combination of payload and range becomes one of the key advantages.

At the same time, the Russian aircraft will have to prove that a platform familiar for decades can attract a new circle of foreign operators. The Il-76MD-90A received four PS-90A-76 engines, reinforced wings and landing gear, as well as updated onboard equipment. The design is intended for operation from airfields with limited infrastructure, which expands the possible scenarios for using the machine beyond ordinary cargo transportation.