Ilyushin Il-38

The Ilyushin Il-38, nicknamed Dolphin, is a Soviet maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft adapted from the Il-18 turboprop airliner. It was built for the Soviet Navy to counter American ballistic missile submarines, after a joint directive of the Communist Party Central Committee and the Council of Ministers in June 1960 called for a prototype ready for trials by 1962. The fuselage, wing, tail and engine nacelles stayed close to the airliner while the equipment changed. An aerodynamic prototype first flew on 28 September 1961 and the first production aircraft followed in September 1967. Production ran until 1972, when the Tupolev Tu-142 took over the role. Sources differ on numbers, 58 in some Western accounts and 35 in a Russian account, and about thirty remain with Russian Naval Aviation. India retired its three in 2023.