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Support aircraftIn service and production
Aerial refueling tanker
Ilyushin Il-78 is a aerial refueling tanker originating in Soviet Union Russia. It was built by Ilyushin. Reported operators include Soviet Air Forces (historical) Russian Aerospace Forces Ukrainian Air Force (historical) Indian Air Force Pakistan Air Force.
Technical data
True scale
Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.
Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | approved |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 6 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
Aerial refueling tanker
Soviet Union Russia
Ilyushin
In service and production
Soviet Air Forces (historical) Russian Aerospace Forces Ukrainian Air Force (historical) Indian Air Force Pakistan Air Force
53
1984–present
1984 (Il-78)
26 June 1983
Ilyushin Il-76
6
Max 100,000 kg payload (T-6 military jet fuel)
46.59 m (152 ft 10 in)
50.5 m (165 ft 8 in)
14.76 m (48 ft 5 in)
300 m 2 (3,200 sq ft)
72,000 kg (158,733 lb)
210,000 kg (462,971 lb)
4 × Aviadvigatel D-30 KP turbofan engines, 118 kN (27,000 lbf) thrust each
850 km/h (530 mph, 460 kn)
7,300 km (4,500 mi, 3,900 nmi)
12,000 m (39,000 ft)
3 x UPAZ-1M 'Sakhalin', ( U nifitsirovaniy P odvesnoy A gregat Z aprahvki;— standardised suspended refuelling unit), refuelling pods; Two on pylons under the outer wings, and the third on the port side of the rear fuselage.
900 to 2,200 liters/min
0.23
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ilyushin Il-78 equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.
Air Force exact named equipment holdings: Il-78 Midas. Active, operational-reserve and training units excluding equipment in store; November 2025 IISS assessment. Named service only; no parent-force or national total inferred. Source role: AIRCRAFT / TKR. Original estimates, ranges, reporting names, reserve, lease and employment scopes retained; nested included counts are not added. Missile-system quantities mean launchers, not rounds. No readiness, crew, carried weapon, payload, factory-production or future order count inherited.
Reported count for Ilyushin Il-78. Service scope: People's Liberation Army Air Force; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct quantity component(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Explicit source inventory scope: active; no other stock status or total inferred. Count column(s): in service: 3. Origin: Ukraine. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. Dates are the count-cell citations' stated source period (2026), not the article revision. 2026 cited publication year. Edition or publication years do not claim an exact inventory census day.
Reported count for Ilyushin Il-78. Service scope: People's Liberation Army Air Force; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct count cell(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Retired, wholly reserve and on-order rows are excluded; the reported count retains any explicitly mixed stock scope in the quoted row. Count column(s): in service: 3. Origin: Ukraine. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. Dates are the count-cell citations' stated source period (2026), not the article revision. 2026 cited publication year. Edition or publication years do not claim an exact inventory census day.
Air Force exact named equipment holdings: Il-78 Midas. Active, operational-reserve and training units excluding equipment in store; November 2025 IISS assessment. Named service only; no parent-force or national total inferred. Source role: AIRCRAFT / TKR. Original estimates, ranges, reporting names, reserve, lease and employment scopes retained; nested included counts are not added. Missile-system quantities mean launchers, not rounds. No readiness, crew, carried weapon, payload, factory-production or future order count inherited.
Reported count for Ilyushin Il-78 · Il-78MKI. Service scope: Air Force; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct count cell(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Retired, wholly reserve and on-order rows are excluded; the reported count retains any explicitly mixed stock scope in the quoted row. Count column(s): in service: 6. Origin: USSR. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. Dates are the count-cell citations' stated source period (2026), not the article revision. 2026 cited source edition. Edition or publication years do not claim an exact inventory census day.
Reported count for Ilyushin Il-78 · Il-78MKI. Service scope: Air Force; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct quantity component(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Explicit source inventory scope: active; no other stock status or total inferred. Count column(s): in service: 6. Origin: USSR. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. The components do not establish one inventory census date; the stored date is the retrieved source snapshot.
Air Force exact named equipment holdings: Il-78 Midas. Active, operational-reserve and training units excluding equipment in store; November 2025 IISS assessment. Named service only; no parent-force or national total inferred. Source role: AIRCRAFT / TKR. Original estimates, ranges, reporting names, reserve, lease and employment scopes retained; nested included counts are not added. Missile-system quantities mean launchers, not rounds. No readiness, crew, carried weapon, payload, factory-production or future order count inherited.
Reported count for Il-78. Service scope: Pakistan Air Force aircraft; does not replace a national total. 1 distinct quantity component(s) from the same source list; shared rowspan cells counted once. Explicit source inventory scope: active; no other stock status or total inferred. Count column(s): in service: 4. Origin: Russia. The listed variants/roles are the scope, not an immediately deployable count. The components do not establish one inventory census date; the stored date is the retrieved source snapshot.
Aerospace Forces exact named equipment holdings: Il-78 Midas. Active, operational-reserve and training units excluding equipment in store; November 2025 IISS assessment. Named service only; no parent-force or national total inferred. Source role: AIRCRAFT / TKR. Original estimates, ranges, reporting names, reserve, lease and employment scopes retained; nested included counts are not added. Missile-system quantities mean launchers, not rounds. No readiness, crew, carried weapon, payload, factory-production or future order count inherited.
Soviet Air Forces (historical) Russian Aerospace Forces Ukrainian Air Force (historical) Indian Air Force Pakistan Air Force
Equipment reference ↗