Soviet-era electronic warfare jet faces final dismantling
At the Irkutsk air base, the only prototype of the Il-76PP aircraft has been deteriorating for years. It was designed as a new electronic warfare aircraft capable of disrupting the Patriot system. The aircraft never went into mass production, and the singular prototype is set to be scrapped to make room for a new building.
Information about the plans to scrap this unique machine was reported by the Ukrainian service Defence Express. According to their information, the only Il-76PP specimen has been deteriorating at the training base in Irkutsk since the 1990s, where it was placed after a series of tests.
Based on the transport Ił-76, the aircraft was designed in the 1980s for electronic warfare. The Russians aimed to create a large aircraft capable of disrupting the operation of Western radars and anti-aircraft systems, including the Patriot system.
Lantana electronic warfare system
The key element of the Il-76PP was to be the Lantana electronic warfare system. Originally, Lantana was developed for the Su-24 attack aircraft. In the Su-24MP variant, these machines carried reconnaissance equipment and were designated for electronic warfare. Only 10 Su-24MP units were produced, of which some were taken over by Russia and others by Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR.
In 2015, pro-Kremlin media reported that an aircraft equipped with such a system disrupted the sensors of the American missile destroyer USS Donald Cook, and the year before, the destroyer USS Ross.
According to the Russians, in both cases, the Su-24MP prevented the Americans from using the ships' sensors and the AEGIS battle management system. However, information repeated by Kremlin propaganda was not verified.
Io-76PP – electronic warfare aircraft
The same EW system that was fitted to the Su-24 was also attempted on the much larger Io-76 aircraft, offering greater flight endurance. For this purpose, the prototype machine was equipped with two large pods for EW systems, located at the wingtips, and additional power sources in the form of two generators using additional AI-24 turboprop engines.
The Russians had high hopes for the aircraft, but tests proved the Lantana system to be ineffective—on the Il-76, it was incompatible with the onboard avionics and disrupted the aircraft's equipment operation. For this reason, the Il-76PP never went into mass production, and the only aircraft deteriorated for decades at the Irkutsk air base.
