Currently, the project of the new "Doomsday aircraft" Il-96-400M is only at the development stage. This was reported to Izvestia on Monday, July 26, by sources in the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation.
"So far, there is not a single ready-made Il-96-400M. And the work on this liner is still under development. Also, this machine has not yet been tested. It will be possible to talk about specific plans for the construction of a flying command post based on the IL-96-400M only after the aircraft makes its first flight, " the source told the publication, adding that only then will all the parameters, as well as the flight characteristics of the machine, be approximately known.
Based on these data, a list of on-board equipment will be compiled and the capabilities for managing forces and means will be determined, he concluded.
Earlier in the day, RIA Novosti, citing a source in the military-industrial complex, reported that specialists in Voronezh had started creating the latest aircraft for controlling troops in the event of a nuclear war.
The interlocutor of the agency said that the Russian army will receive two such aircraft, but let's assume that in the future the Ministry of Defense may order a third aircraft. In addition, the source pointed out that the project is called "Link-3C".
The latest radio complex of the aircraft will allow you to deliver orders to the troops, including strategic aviation, mobile and mine launchers, submarines carrying strategic nuclear weapons within a radius of 6 thousand km.
In the fall of 2020, it became known that the new "Doomsday planes" will be transferred from the Il-80 to the Il-96-400M. It is noted that the flight range of the new devices will increase twice as compared to their predecessors.
The name "Doomsday planes" was given to the air command posts in the United States. The Americans believed that Russia would use them in the event of a nuclear war to evacuate the country's top leadership and control troops in the event of the destruction of ground and satellite infrastructure. In the United States, the functions of such points are carried out by E-4B based on a Boeing 747.
