Navy’s Ilyushin 38SD Aircraft Fires Anti-Ship Missiles During Exercise
Panaji: The Indian Navy’s aircraft Ilyushin 38SD successfully fired Combat Kh35E anti-ship missiles during the ongoing Theatre level Readiness and Operational Exercise 2021 (TROPEX-21), a defence statement said here on Tuesday.
The Combat Kh35E missiles launched from the aircraft successfully hit and sank the target on January 31, it said.
“This reaffirms the Indian Navy’s capability to carry out long range maritime strikes in the Indian Ocean Region, a capability that is central to meeting operational challenges and ensuring safe seas, secure coasts,” it said.
“TROPEX 21 is aimed at testing combat readiness of the Navy along with the assets of the Air Force, Army and Coast Guard in a “complex multi-dimensional exercise set in the context of the current geo-strategic environment”, the statement added.
ABOUT IL-38
The Il-38 is an adaptation of the four-engined turboprop Ilyushin Il-18 for use as a maritime patrol aircraft for the Soviet Navy. It met a requirement to counter American ballistic missile submarines. The Communist Party Central Committee and the Council of Ministers issued a joint directive on 18 June 1960, calling for a prototype to be ready for trials by the second quarter of 1962. The fuselage, wing, tail unit and engine nacelles were the same as the Il-18 and it had the same powerplant and flight deck. An aerodynamic prototype of the Il-38 first flew on 28 September 1961, with the first production aircraft following in September 1967. Production continued until 1972, when the longer-range and more versatile Tupolev Tu-142 derivative of the Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber had entered service.
The airframe is based on the Il-18, with the wings moved forward 3 m (9.84 ft). Unlike the Il-18, only the forward fuselage of the Il-38 is pressurised. The tail contains a MAD, while under the forward fuselage a Berkut (“Golden Eagle”) search radar (named “Wet Eye” by NATO) is housed in a bulged radome. There are two internal weapons bays, one forward of the wing, housing sonobuoys and one behind the wing housing weapons.
