picture 221689

Another of the aircraft deployed intensively in the transport of Wagner operatives around Africa was this Ilyushin Il-18 (c/n 186009403) with the civilian registration TL-KBR. The aircraft originally served as a prototype for the Il-20 reconnaissance variant, with the registration RA-75713. After conversion to its ‘transport confi guration’, it retained a ‘sting’ in the rear fuselage, carrying sensors for ‘aerogeophysical research’. In early 2022, it was sighted multiple times in Libya (and at al-Jufrah AB), and then in Bahgui in February and March of the same year. This illustration shows it as seen in Bangui in October 2020. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)