Following article noted on Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) webpage. Translated by Old Crow and submitted to MT's Milcom Blog for interest and information. Date of article: 3 October 2006. IL-76 picture courtesy of the BBC.
There are six sorties to be carried out by aircraft of Military Transport Aviation to Lebanon on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October. More than 130 tonnes of air freight and around 300 personnel of the Independent Bridging Battalion will be transported by Military Transport Aviation. On 3rd October, one AN-124 (RUSLAN) is scheduled to depart Chkalovskij airfield at 0800. This aircraft will carry 77 tonnes of air freight in the form of special vehicular equipment, technical stores andrations together with 17 personnel. On the same date, a TU-154 will transfer more than 130 personnel. On 4th October, two IL-76 aircraft will transfer 46 tonnes of stores and more than 20 personnel. On 5th October, two IL-76 will transfer more than 130 personnel and more than 10 tonnes stores.
The aircraft will fly along the route: Chkalovskij - Beirut - Chkalovskij. The distance between Chkalovskij and Beirut is more than 2500 Km and the flight time is likely to be AN-124/IL-76 - 3 hours 50 min and TU-154 - 3 hours 10 min.
