Chinese air force to send IL-76 aircraft to participate in New Zealand relief exercise

WELLINGTON - An Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft from China will land at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base in Auckland on Saturday to take part in Exercise Skytrain18, with the New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF), the Chinese embassy said here on Wednesday.

The IL-76, from the People's Liberation Army Air Force, is to take part in training with a detachment from 40 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force in humanitarian aid and disaster relief support and in search and rescue operations, a statement from the Chinese embassy said.

The Ilyushin IL-76 is a Russian-made, medium range, multi-purpose military transport aircraft powered by four jet engines.

Exercise of this kind has been conducted when the NZDF was involved in the search for the missing airliner MH370 in the Indian Ocean, of which the Chinese air force was also involved, said the statement.