Ilyushin Il-86 variant
Ilyushin Il-86 Il-86VKP (Il-80 / Il-82 / Il-87)
The airborne command post derived from the Il-86: four airframes delivered to Soviet military aviation, NATO name Maxdome and a disputed designation.
- 4
- Units built
History
From troop transport to command post
With its built-in stairs and below-deck holds, the Il-86 was widely expected to serve as a personnel transport for the Soviet air forces; it was written at the time that «the wide-bodied Il-86 can perform not only as a troop transport but may also in the future form the basis for a command and control aircraft for airborne coordination of Warsaw Pact forces». It was the latter that happened.
Four airframes and several designations
Four aircraft (c/n 042, 043, 046 and 048, carrying quasi-civil registrations SSSR-86146, '7, '8 and '9) were delivered to the 8th Special Purposes Aviation Division at Chkalovsky air base near Moscow, within the 1985 central allocation. Their designation is quoted differently depending on the source: Il-80, Il-82, Il-87 or Il-86VKP, from the Russian «ВКП» for airborne command post. The type's NATO reporting name is Maxdome. The Spanish Wikipedia noted in 2012 that the four Il-86VKPs remained in service, by which time no civil Il-86 had been operational since 2011.