Designed as a heavy transport for use in the Siberian regions of the Soviet Union, the llyushin Il-76, codenamed 'Candid' by NATO, is a large-capacity turbo-fan-powered jet freighter designed to operate from short, unprepared airstrips. The prototype flew on 25 March 1971 and test flying continued until 1975 when the type was put into production at the Tashkent factory. During the same year the II-76 established 25 international records for speed and altitude with payload.

The production II-76T 'Candid A', with greater cargo capacity and higher gross weights, went into service with Aeroflot on domestic routes early in 1978, and the Moscow-Japan international route in April the same year. Around 50 are estimated to be in service with Aeroflot and about 100 have been exported to civil users including Libyan Arab Airlines, Syrianair and, more recently, Cubana, while military customers include the Czech, Polish, Algerian, Iraqi and Indian air forces, this last operating the type as the Gajaraj. The military transport version, intended for the deployment of paratroops and troops, together with strategic heavy freighting, differs primarily by having military, rather than civil, avionics and equipment. The Soviet air force, with about 450 'Candids' in service, also use the aircraft for firefighting (the II-76DMP), able to carry over 40 tons of water or retardant; as an engine testbed (the II-76LL) for flight refuelling (as the Il-78 'Midas'); airborne early warning (as the A-50 'Mainstay' in the USSR, and the 'Adnan' in Iraq) and for Antarctic support flights and cosmonaut training providing simulated weightlessness . By early 1991 total production had reached about 680 aircraft.