Ilyushin Il-102 ground-attack aircraft

Il 102 competed in and lost to Su-25 as the attack aircraft for VVS. However, Ilyushin kept working in it using their internal resources. Why they chose to showcase it in the 1990s remains a mystery.

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NotGoodButFast@reddit

And the design that lost to the A-10 looks awfully similar to the Su-25. This is fourth tier cold-war ground attack jet.

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egguw@reddit

ya-9, they probably secretly sold the design

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chickenCabbage@reddit

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.

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They actually attempted to export the idea on the 90s as some budget ground attack plane but it of course was wildly outdated in design and probably not even that effective in real combat. A cheap small trainer jet rigged with hard points would be a more suitable option

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King-Florida-Man@reddit

We have A10 Warthog at home

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LefsaMadMuppet@reddit

In wing bomb bays.

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HughJorgens@reddit

The little wing bomb bays turned out to be the best weapon the stormoviks ever had to fight tanks. They developed little cluster bombs that fit in there and covered a big area, this gave the poorly trained pilots some chance of hitting a target.

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38_tlgjau@reddit

Isn't that just the doors for the landing gear?

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pmcclay@reddit

Three open doors between the landing gear and the rocket pods.

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BryanEW710@reddit

They look like weapons pylons to me

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Demolition_Mike@reddit

It was equipped with bomb bays like the o.g. Sturmovik

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Sonoda_Kotori@reddit

Just like the Il-2!

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hifumiyo1@reddit

Sorry comrades, no more rockets. That single planes sortied with all of them.

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atape_1@reddit

Comrade Stalin can we get CAS? Yes Jurij, but only once.

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couplingrhino@reddit

They clearly had some turrets left over from designing airliners and were determined to find a use for them.

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weirdal1968@reddit

On first glance I missed the second rear facing canopy. Same for the Concordski.

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91361_throwaway@reddit

Yeah imagine being that dude

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KokoTheTalkingApe@reddit

And I just read it had a rear gun turret behind the tail, about 20 feet away. How the hell would you aim that thing? Was there a video camera back there? Here's a picture, I can't tell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-102#/media/File:I%C5%81-102_NTW_3_95_4.jpg

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xerberos@reddit

There's been lots of solutions for that kind of problem. Not sure how successful they've been.

This is probably the weirdest location, but with a pushing prop they had no other choice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_XB-42_Mixmaster

Defensive armament consisted of two 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns each side in the trailing edge of the wing, which retracted into the wing when not in use. These guns were aimed by the copilot through a sighting station at the rear of his cockpit. The guns had a limited field of fire (25 degrees left right and +20 -15 in elevation) to the rear, but with the aircraft's high speed it was thought unlikely that intercepting fighters would attack from any other angle.

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KokoTheTalkingApe@reddit

That's amazing. I look around a little and finally found a picture of the rear-facing wing guns here. Never tested, it seems.

It originally had separate canopy bubbles for the pilot and copilot seated side by side. With the lower canopy for the bombadier, I think it would've looked like a surprised face.

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Cthell@reddit

Same way it worked on the B-29 - have a fire-control computer calculate the angle from the gunner's sight

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Kid_Vid@reddit

Rear facing canopy on the concordski?

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weirdal1968@reddit

Ambiguity = comedy.

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werewulf35@reddit

Meaning you missed the Concord ski sitting in the background of this picture?

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Shankar_0@reddit

What's the rear-facing guy looking at? I don't see an obvious rear gun.

It's like the aircraft designer got there via kitbashing 6 model kits (one was a tractor) and stripping the parts from a vending machine.

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Tchocky@reddit

What's the rear-facing guy looking at? I don't see an obvious rear gun.

It's way at the back of the tail. Barrels are visible

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chickenCabbage@reddit

Ilyushin copying Sukhoi's homework

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Lauriesaurous@reddit

It's predecessor is even weirder

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SuperTulle@reddit

Only five production aircraft had been completed before the entire program was canceled in early 1956 when the VVS discarded its close air-support doctrine in favor of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

I was going to comment on its appearance, but then I read this and realized that the soviets were even more unhinged!

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Saelyre@reddit

So unhinged... Unlike those classy Brits and their idea for a... chicken-warmed nuclear mine!?

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Demolition_Mike@reddit

That's... actually feasible. I think their worst offender is the Violet Cub. How they didn't accidentally erase a city with that thing is beyond me.

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Tchocky@reddit

Hadn't read about that one before.... Holy hell

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Demolition_Mike@reddit

Flying shotgun is gonna inhale us aaaaaaall!

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chickenCabbage@reddit

Smells weird.

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EvidenceEuphoric6794@reddit

That cockpit makes it look like a stretched air tractor

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bigbug49@reddit

Ilyushin well known as author of Il-2 and Il-10, but next ground attack planes of this fitm were pretty weird. Especially Il-20 and Il-40 - very, very hard narco influenced design.

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Tobi_1989@reddit

Ilyushin building Il-10: We're not over the Il-2 myth

Ilyushin building Il-40: It's jet age, but we're still not over the Il-2 myth

Ilyushin building Il-102: Nearly all the people who were ever directly involved with Il-2 died of old age. We switched to building passenger and cargo planes long ago. Our know how in the field of ground attack planes is seriously outdated. Anyway, here's 30 year old Il-40 pretending to be serious competition to Su-25.

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