KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 23. /TASS/. The program for creating the Il-112V light transport plane will be continued despite the recent air crash, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told the media on Monday.

"The Il-112V program will certainly go on. There is a great demand for this light transport plane. Regrettably, such tragedies do happen sometimes. I believe that the manufacturers will probe into the causes, make the corresponding conclusions and devise the necessary package of measures," he said.

About the plane's engine, TV-117, Borisov said that it had a great potential.

"Thorough work must proceed to improve the engine's stability and reliability," Borisov said.

The sole flying prototype of the light military transport plane Il-112V crashed during an attempt to land at the Kubinka airbase near Moscow on August 17. Before the crash the plane’s starboard engine caught fire. The plane tilted to the starboard, lost speed, capsized and crashed. There was a crew of three on board. Test pilot Nikolai Kuimov, a Hero of Russia, was the crew’s commander. He flew the Il-112V during its maiden flight on March 30, 2019.

Il-112V is the first military transport plane developed in post-Soviet Russia from scratch. The project was launched in 2014. The plane is capable of carrying a payload of five tonnes - personnel, military vehicles and weapons. The plane is to replace the turboprop An-26 and An-24. There are plans for making two configurations of the plane - civilian (Il-112T) and military transport one (Il-112V).