Russian Navy gets analogue of P-8 Poseidon aircraft

The Russian Navy is now equipped with a modernised Ilyushin Il-38 aircraft, designed to hunt down and destroy enemy submarines. The plane is equipped with a conceptually new targeting system and is another example of how platforms long used by the army and navy have been given a new lease of life after modernisation.

The Il-38 – the military version of the famous Il-1 airliner – made its maiden flight as far back as 1961. At that time, the aircraft was equipped with the Berkut targeting and navigation system.

The main purpose of these aircrafts was to patrol territorial waters near the Russian coast in search of enemy submarines. As the designers intended, the aircraft crew were able not only to detect enemy submarines but also destroy them with torpedoes.

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