Ilyushin Il-18 Il-38

The Il-38 stemmed from a joint Central Committee and Council of Ministers directive of 18 June 1960 calling for an aircraft able to counter American ballistic missile submarines. It keeps the Il-18's fuselage, wing, tail unit, engine nacelles, powerplant and flight deck, but the wing was moved 3 m forward to balance the new weight distribution and only the forward fuselage is pressurised. The tail houses a magnetic anomaly detector and a bulged radome under the forward fuselage carries the Berkut («golden eagle») search radar, named Wet Eye by NATO; two internal bays — one ahead of the wing for sonobuoys, one behind it for weapons — complete the layout.

The aerodynamic prototype flew on 28 September 1961 and the first production aircraft followed in September 1967. Production continued until 1972, when the longer-ranged and more versatile Tupolev Tu-142 entered service. Build figures are disputed: some Western sources cite 58 aircraft, while the commander of the Ostrov ASW squadron stated that Soviet Naval Aviation received 35. India took delivery of three in 1977 and two more in 1983, later upgraded to Il-38 SD standard with the Sea Dragon suite; the Indian Navy retired them on 31 October 2023. The modernised Russian Il-38N remains in service with the Arctic and Pacific Fleets.