DESCRIPTION

Ilyushin IL-38/IL-38N 1961 Year 

1/72 Scale 

Plastic Model Kit 

Amodel 72010-02

Manufacturer: AMODEL

Material: Plastic

Condition: New in original packaging

Historical reference

Il-38 (product "8", according to NATO codification: May) is a Soviet medium-range anti-submarine aircraft developed in Ilyushin's OKB-240 based on the passenger Il-18V. The aircraft is intended for independent search and destruction of enemy submarines, independently or jointly with anti-submarine ships, for naval reconnaissance, search and rescue operations, and laying minefields. Carrier of tactical nuclear weapons.

After the end of World War II, the victorious countries gained access to numerous German developments, including guided missile weapons. In the United States, the Polaris program was launched and work began on the creation of an underwater missile carrier. The program was based on the construction of 41 nuclear missile submarines (SSBNs). Each such boat was armed with 16 Polaris A-1 solid-propellant missiles with a range of up to 2200 km.

In 1960, the Polaris boats began combat patrols. Due to the relatively short missile launch range, the US Navy's 14th Squadron was based in the UK, but already in 1964-67, the missiles on five boats were modernized and received a launch range of 4600 km, which undoubtedly expanded the combat capabilities of the Polaris class nuclear submarines.

In those years, research was conducted in the USSR to counter the threat of American missile-carrying boats. A general concept was developed for the search for nuclear submarines and its technical implementation, expressed in the creation of the first domestic aviation anti-submarine complex "Baku". Despite all its shortcomings, the Baku PLC was routinely installed on the Ka-25PL anti-submarine helicopter and the Be-12 amphibious aircraft. There were attempts to create an anti-submarine aircraft even on the basis of the Tu-16 (Tu-16PLO), however, without much success - a squadron of such aircraft was briefly operated by the Air Force of the Northern and Pacific Fleets.

Due to the large number of shortcomings and technical imperfections of the "Baku" system, research work on the "Juniper" topic began in 1957, and two years later, the development of the search and sighting system (SPS) "Berkut" began at NII-131 (Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated 11 December 1959). The development of sonar buoys was carried out by NII-753. Research work on the topic "Elm" included the development of anti-submarine weapons.

By Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 18, 1960 No. 640-261, the development of an anti-submarine aircraft is entrusted to OKB-240 (R&D on the topic "Tuna"). The Il-18V passenger aircraft was chosen as the base machine for the Il-18PLO. In 1961, OKB-240 hosted the defense of a preliminary design, which was attended by many guests, including the Navy Aviation, represented by a long-range planning group, which was part of the operational department, pilots, navigators and engineers from fleet aviation and the 33rd Pulp and Paper Pulp and PLS.

The anti-submarine aircraft was designed to search, track, detect and destroy enemy submarines in any weather conditions at any time of the year and day, at a distance of up to 2000 km.

With love from Ukraine