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Defence Ministry wants entire fleet of anti-submarine Il-38 planes upgraded

The Ilyushin-38 maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft is to be upgraded to Ilyushin-38N with a new generation search and target track system Novella-P-38

ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow Region/, June 30. /TASS/. The Russian Defence Ministry plans to order the upgrade of the entire fleet of anti-submarine planes Ilyushin-38, naval aviation commander Igor Kozhin told the media on Tuesday.

"The contract is in the discussion phase. It is impossible to name any specific figures at this point (number of planes and dates), but the entire fleet is to undergo upgrade," he said.

The Ilyushin-38 maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft is to be upgraded to Ilyushin-38N with a new generation search and target track system Novella-P-38.

Kozhin said all upgraded planes will be painted dark grey in line with the Defence Ministry’s standards.

A unified platform for Russia’s naval aviation to replace the current Ilyushin-20 and Ilhyushin-38 will be selected in 2015-2016, Kozhin said.

The universal platform that will replace all of anti-submarine planes will boast far better parameters surpassing foreign counterparts.

"The platform will perform its maiden flight by 2020," Kozhin said.