Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Ilyushin Il-76 is a 4-engined heavy transport aircraft in widespread use in eastern Europe and Africa. It was designed in 1974, and is still in production in Tashkent. The basic IL-76 is the first production version and in widespread use by the VVS. It has a turret in the tail for defense purposes. The IL-76M is another version, with more powerful engines, giving it a bigger payload capacity. The IL-76MD is the main commercial version. It has the same engines, a strengthened floor compared to the Il-76M, and usually doesn't have the tail turret. The IL-76-MF is the latest version, with a 6 meter extension and more economical and powerful engines. The Il-76 is also in use as a airborne tanker (Il-78), water bomber and AWACS aircraft (A-50). This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.