The Il-76 transport aircraft was still relatively new in service with the V-VS in the late 1970s, and the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan was the first major enterprise to see its involvement. Nevertheless, an Il-76 became the first Soviet aircraft lost in this conflict, when a jet from the 128th Guards Transport Aviation Regiment carrying troops of the 103rd GAD was hit by anti-aircraft artillery and then crashed into a mountain near Kabul on 25 December 1979. By 1987, Il-76s from four additional units are known to have been regularly involved in Afghanistan, including the 194th, 339th and 708th Transport Aviation Regiments. The fourth was the 25th Guards Transport Aviation Regiment, home-based at Melitopol, in Ukraine, to which this example – manufactured in 1987 – is known to have belonged: it was sighted on several occasions at Bagram and Kabul International through 1988 and in early 1989. (Artwork by Rolando Ugolini)