Five Il-76 military aircraft come out or order due to supplies of defective parts

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported damages of 130 million rubles due to the supplies of defective aircraft parts for the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft, the Izvestia newspaper wrote about it with reference to a source.

It was revealed that the aircraft in operation had counterfeit bearings installed on them. The Investigative Committee for the Moscow Region sad that no further details of the case could be exposed for the interests of the investigation.

It was reported that the case was initiated against unidentified persons from among the management of the Balashikha Foundry and Mechanical Plant (BLMZ). According to sources, the plant was recognized as the injured party in the case. Possible violations in the execution of documents for the bearings were committed by the Saratov Bearing Plant from which they were purchased.

The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case into fraudulent actions carried out with spare parts supplied for the military Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft. Investigators interrogate managers and founders of the BLMZ plant.

According to the investigation, between 2017 and 2022, employees of the enterprise purchased low-quality bearings that did not meet the requirements of the design documentation. They were shipped together with KT199 wheels to the Ilyushin branch. The shipment contained forged documents stating that they were allegedly accepted by the military representative office of the Ministry of Defense. The use of counterfeit parts led to the breakdown of five Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A aircraft.

The defective bearings case was filed under a rarely used article on abuse of power in the implementation of state defense orders. According to Article 201.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the punishment in the case may vary from 4 to 8 years or from 5 to 10 years if the crime was committed by an organized group and entailed serious consequences.