The automated docking of the first fuselage of the Il-76MD-90A heavy transport aircraft using a robotics and laser guidance on a new assembly line has been completed at the Ulyanovsk factory of Aviastar-SP JSC.

The first aircraft fuselage was unloaded from the compartment docking station and it was laid down in the next station, where the pipeline systems are being installed, in a process currently being tested before full implementation.

Compared to the previous traditional technology of assembly in stocks, the automated production line reduces the labour involved in airframe docking by almost 40% and reduces the time for final assembly of the aircraft by four times. The design capacity of the new production line is 18 aircraft per year. The new technology will allow the enterprise to increase the rate of serial production of the Il-76MD-90A in the short term.

The line consists of ten robotic stations. In the first of them, separate fuselage compartments are supplied from the unit-assembly production. The fuselage compartment docking station is a flyover and a complex of automated positioners. Docking is carried out with maximum accuracy in an automated mode using a laser measurement system.

Then the docked fuselage is transferred to the next station, where the specialists of Aviastar-SP JSC have already started working out the hydraulic systems. At the subsequent stages of the IL-76MD-90A jigless assembly, the electrician is worked out, the wing consoles are docked to the fuselage, the tail unit is installed and assembled. After that, the airframe is lowered onto the landing gear and moved to the next stages for attaching engines and testing systems.

First Deputy General Director of UAC, Managing Director of Il PJSC Sergey Yarkovoy notes: "The launch of a new production line is a significant event for the Ulyanovsk enterprise and for the entire industrial landscape of the corporation, since this is the first time such technology is used to assemble large transport aircraft. Most of the operations are robotic. The use of digital technologies will reduce the labour intensity of the work itself and significantly reduce the time for docking of the airframe units. The introduction of a new technological process and the modernization of production facilities at Aviastar-SP will contribute to increasing the serial production of aircraft and reaching the rate of up to 12 aircraft per year, which will allow meeting obligations to customers on time, ensuring revenue growth and stable development of the plant."