ASTANA (Sputnik) — Astana is negotiating with Moscow the purchase of Russia-manufactured military transport aircraft, General Director of Russia's Ilyushin Aviation Complex Sergey Velmozhkin said Friday.
"The Kazakh side expresses interest to our new products, especially to Il-76MD-90A, to Il-78, as well as to Il-112. Today we have conducted preliminary negotiations," Velmozhkin told reporters at the KADEX-2016 military hardware exhibition in Kazakhstan.
The Il-76MD-90A is a deeply modernized version of Russia's world-famous Il-76 aircraft, featuring a fully-digital flight control system, new avionics and PS-90A-76 engines with improved fuel efficiency systems.
The IL-78 is an air-to-air refueling tanker, which is designed to refuel in the air long-range aircraft and frontline aviation during daytime and nighttime in order to widen their operational range, according to Ilyushin's website.
The Il-112 is an Ilyushin-developed light military transport aircraft, designed for transporting and parachuting of military equipment and personnel, as well as of various cargoes.