April 4 marks the 20th anniversary of the first flight of the modernized IL-38N long-range anti-submarine aircraft equipped with the Novella-P-38 search and sighting system, which has significantly expanded the scope of tasks to be solved and the combat capabilities of winged vehicles.

Despite the fact that aircraft with this complex were developed by the early 2000s, they began to enter service in Russia only in 2014, after their "relative" - ​​the Il-38SD - successfully established itself in the service of the Indian Navy.

The birth of the IL-38

The history of the Il-38 family began back in 1960, when the leadership of the USSR instructed the Ilyushin Design Bureau to create an anti-submarine aircraft for use in a wide variety of climatic conditions - from the tropics to the Arctic latitudes.

Military experts note that the task was set after it became known that the United States had atomic strategic submarines armed with ballistic missiles.

“The decision to create the first Il-38 was made after American nuclear submarines with Polaris missiles went on alert,” Yuri Knutov, a military historian and expert, director of the Air Defense Museum in Balashikha, explained in a conversation with RT.

It was decided to take the IL-18 turboprop passenger liner as a basis.

  • Il-18 turboprop passenger aircraft

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  • © Musa Selimkhanov

At the same time, the designers refused to equip the new vehicle with defensive weapons in the form of turrets with aircraft cannons, which were usually present on anti-submarine aircraft of that era.

This reduced the weight of the aircraft, which gave it more maneuverability and allowed the use of shorter runways.

“Anti-submarine aircraft should be distinguished by a number of features, for example, the ability to stay in the air for a long time and fly in adverse conditions.

Also, the machine should not develop too high a speed to search for submarines.

The Soviet designers successfully coped with all these tasks, ”Knutov said.

The first prototype of the Il-38 was built and tested already in 1961.

It differed from the civilian progenitor by a wing carried three meters forward, an additional fuel tank in the fuselage, special rooms for anti-submarine torpedoes and bombs, as well as revised on-board systems and electronic equipment.

After state tests in 1965, the Il-38 was adopted by the aviation of the USSR Navy.

Serial production of these aircraft went on from 1967 to 1972 - during this time, 65 aircraft were manufactured.

In the 1980s, it was decided to modernize the Il-38 with the installation on it at that time of the new search and sighting system "Izumrud", but only 12 machines were improved.

According to Yuri Knutov, in the late 1980s, work began on the creation of a new search and targeting complex Novella.

However, after the collapse of the USSR in the conditions of the economic crisis, the complex turned out to be unclaimed.

“The problem rested on funds, there was not enough funding.

It was pointless to use aircraft with old equipment, which is morally obsolete, because the noise of NATO submarines abruptly changed, the acoustics changed, after which it became difficult to detect them, ”the expert explained.

Long-awaited modernization

However, the Novella complex developed by TsNPO Leninets (St. Petersburg) attracted the attention of the Indian military, who decided to equip their Il-38 anti-submarine missiles with it.

The export version of Novella, the Sea Snake radio-electronic complex, was installed on six aircraft of the Indian Navy, which were named Il-38SD (Sea Dragon).

In the 2010s, after the successful experience of using this complex in India, it was decided to carry out a similar modernization of the anti-submarine "Ilyushins", which are in service with the Russian Navy.

  • Aircraft Tu-142 and Il-38SD Indian Navy

  • © Andrea / Flickr / Wikimedia Commons

Thus, Il-38N aircraft, equipped with a new version of the Novella-P-38 search and sighting complex, began to appear in the Navy.

The first such vehicle was delivered to the Navy in 2014.

In 2017, Admiral Vladimir Korolev, who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, said that the use of this system on the modernized Il-38 will increase the efficiency of search and detection of submarines fourfold.

“As a result of the modernization, the anti-submarine aircraft received the Novella radio-electronic complex, which makes it possible to quadruple the effectiveness of the search and detection of submarines.

And plus, it has the ability to conduct reconnaissance and issue target designation.

The same aircraft, with the help of a new search and targeting system, can confidently find submarines and destroy them, and with the use of an expanded (in comparison with the base IL-38) range of weapons, ”he said.

In the same year, the chief of the naval aviation of the Russian Navy, Major General Igor Kozhin, said that in the near term it was planned to modernize about 30 Il-38 units.

“The Minister of Defense has set the task to modernize the entire fleet of these aircraft.

The modernization program is designed until 2025, so we expect to complete the modernization of almost all machines by this year, ”Kozhin said.

Features and characteristics

Visually, the Il-38N differs from its predecessor by the additional antennas of the all-round radar located over the nose of the fuselage.

The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is 68 tons with a maximum combat load of 6 tons. It is capable of speeds up to 650 km / h at a maximum flight altitude of 8 km.

The flight range with a normal combat load reaches 6.6 thousand km.

The aircraft's crew consists of seven people.

The Novella complex includes radar, thermal television, hydroacoustic, magnetometric and command-tactical systems, as well as an electronic reconnaissance complex.

  • IL-38N anti-submarine aircraft during the air part of the parade dedicated to the Day of the Navy in St. Petersburg

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  • © Alexander Tarasenkov

It can detect air targets at a distance of up to 90 km, and surface targets up to 320 km.

The detection range of underwater targets by the system is not given in open sources.

However, it is known that the system can simultaneously track up to 50 surface targets.

As a weapon to combat submarines and surface ships, the Il-38N is capable of carrying anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and depth charges, as well as hydroacoustic and magnetic buoys.

Speaking about the features of this aircraft, Yuri Knutov emphasized that after the introduction of the Novella system, the efficiency of the modernized Il-38 increased significantly.

“This is a unique aircraft with excellent equipment, which today overtakes the leading Western counterparts in a number of characteristics,” the specialist emphasized.

In turn, Doctor of Military Sciences, retired captain of the 1st rank Konstantin Sivkov noted in an interview with RT that, unlike the Soviet Berkut system, the Novella complex is capable of detecting submarines with a fairly low noise spectrum, even below the noise level ocean.

“The IL-38N is equipped with more advanced radar stations, perfect magnetometers.

In general, this aircraft has much greater capabilities to search for any enemy nuclear submarines than its predecessor, so its adoption is a big step in the development of the capabilities of the Russian fleet, "- said the military expert.

According to him, after this aircraft appeared in service with Russia, the Ministry of Defense was able to solve the tasks of ensuring the fight against submarines of a potential enemy much more efficiently.

"And the expansion of the fleet of such aircraft will seriously strengthen the capabilities of the Russian fleet to combat enemy nuclear submarines, including the most quiet ones," concluded Sivkov.