This is the first image of a North Korean militarized, camouflaged Il-76 cargo plane

It looks like some of North Korea‘s Il-76 cargo planes have been militarized and given an interesting camouflaged color scheme.

The image showing the Il-76TD the military camo (the first and, probably, only so far), whose source is unclear, was posted on El Hangar de TJ website.

Since Air Koryo operates three of these Soviet-made aircraft to carry cargo in China and Russia (provided all the examples ordered at the beginning of the 1990s are still serviceable), it is safe to believe the one depicted in the photograph is a civilian one belonging to the state-owned national flag carrier airline of North Korea.

Image credit: via El Hangar de TJ

During the recent flying parade over Pyongyang on Jul. 27, some Hughes 500E helicopters, armed with AT-3 Sagger missiles, emerged after 30 years in the dark.

These choppers were intended to infiltrate North Korean special forces into the South in case of war.

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.