The Ilyushin Il-102 was a Soviet experimental jet-powered ground-attack aircraft designed by Ilyushin. Once described as the "most gorgeously ugly combat jet ever,"[1] this aircraft was never chosen for production, being surpassed by the Su-25. Only a few development prototypes were built.
In 1967, the Soviet Air Forces drew up a specification for a jet-powered shturmovik or armoured ground attack aircraft. While Sukhoi designed an all-new single seat aircraft, the Su-25, Ilyushin proposed a modified version of their Il-40 of 1953 under the designation Il-42, which, unlike the Sukhoi, was a two-seat aircraft with a remotely-controlled rear gun turret. The design was rejected by the Soviet Air Forces, but Ilyushin decided to continue in-house development regardless, renaming the programme Il-102.[2]
The Il-102 first prototype flew on 25 September 1982, with a second airframe built for static tests, and carried out 250 test flights until it was grounded in 1984 when the engine life expired.[3]
The tail turret of the Il-102, armed with a GSh-23L twin-barreled cannon
The Il-102 was a low-winged monoplane with moderately swept (30 degrees) wings, powered by two Klimov RD-33I turbofans (non-afterburning versions of the engines that power the Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter). It was highly unusual for its time in having a rear gun turret, something not seen in ground-attack aircraft since the World War IIIl-2 Shturmovik and Il-10, the Il-102's spiritual ancestors, controlled remotely by a gunner sitting in a cockpit above the trailing edge of the wing. The crew cockpits, engines and fuel tanks were armoured to protect against ground fire.[citation needed]
Although development was abandoned in 1984, the prototype Il-102 was publicly unveiled at the 1992 Mosaeroshow air show at Zhukovsky, being claimed to be available for export.[4]
Ilyushin Il-102 on display at the Gromov Flight Research Institute
Guns: The under-wing pylons of the Il-102, armed with unguided rocket pods
1 × 30mm GSh-30-2 cannon externally mounted under fuselage
1 × 23 mm GSh-23L cannon in remotely controlled tail turret
Bombs: 7,200 kg (15,873 lb) external stores in six wing bomb bays and eight external pylons (six under wing and two under fuselage)The under-wing bomb-bays of the Il-102, armed with bombs
"Ilyushin Il-102: Aborted jet shturmovik". World Air Power Journal, Volume 17 Summer 1994. London:Aerospace Publishing, 1994. ISBN1-874023-43-3. pp. 24–29.
