Chinese IL-76 aircraft to conduct heavy-equipment air dropping

The photo shows a scene of an IL-76 transport aircraft from the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). (Xinhua/ Fu Qiang)

Three IL-76 transport aircraft from an aviation regiment under the air force of the Guangzhou Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will be assigned for the heavy-equipment airdrop mission in the "Peace Mission - 2014" joint anti-terrorism military exercise (hereinafter referred to as the exercise) of the armed forces of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.

Each IL-76 transport aircraft will airdrop three combat vehicles and nine paratroopers to the designated area to provide support for the follow-up airborne force' parachute landing on a large scale, according to the exercise plan.

"We usually implement the single aircraft mission, but in this exercise we shall perform the missions jointly with various types of aircraft," said Wang Liyong, deputy commander of the aviation regiment.

"Therefore, we need to know about the take-off/landing time, flight route and flight status of other types of aircraft to calculate the time-point which should be done based on seconds," he added.

Qiu Defu, an experienced pilot with 13,500-hour flight time, used the word "precise" for five times to describe the mission in this exercise, namely precise flight direction, precise flight altitude and speed, precise airdrop location, precise airdrop posture for the combat vehicles, and precise airdrop trajectory for the airborne parachutes.

A minor deviation from these requirements will lead to the failure of the entire mission, Qiu Defu added.

Wang Liyong introduced that the aircrew of an IL-76 transport aircraft include pilots, navigators, communicators, mechanics and personnel responsible for airdrop. All of them have made sufficient preparations for the mission in the exercise, ready for the "battle" at any time.