The experience of the Great Patriotic War showed that in fact the main striking force of the Red Army Armed Forces was attack aircraft. Of course, OKB S.V. Ilyushin, having given the country the legendary armored attack aircraft Il-2, made a huge contribution to the Victory over Nazi Germany. German soldiers called him “the black death,” and Soviet soldiers called him “humpbacked” (“he endured the entire war on his hump”). At the end of the war, a new armored attack aircraft with better flight characteristics, the Il-10, entered the battle with the enemy.

Even before the end of the war, Ilyushin began work on creating new armored vehicles. It was planned to improve the flight and combat data both through the use of new power plants and the introduction of original layout solutions. In addition to the mass-produced Il-2 and Il-10, samples of the Il-8, Il-16, Il-20 and Il-40 attack aircraft were built and tested. But production was soon stopped.

What shortcomings were revealed by the massive use of the Il-2 attack aircraft on the war fronts? Why did the Air Force of our country, for more than three decades until the appearance of the Su-25, never receive a new attack aircraft, and the S.V. Design Bureau? Has Ilyushin moved away from the problems of front-line strike aviation for a long time?