Antonov An-70

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The Antonov An-70 is a four-engine medium-range transport aircraft, and the first large aircraft to be powered by propfan engines. It is being developed by Ukraine's Antonov design bureau to replace the obsolete An-12 military transport aircraft. The maiden flight of the first prototype took place on December 16th 1994 in Kiev, Ukraine. It is in service in the Russian and Ukrainian air forces.

Variants[edit | edit source]

  • An-70T: A version of the An-70 sans suffix adopted for the civilian market.
  • An-70T-100: A proposed lighter version of the An-70T with two D-27 propfans and simplified landing gear for civilian use. The variant was intended to haul 30 t (66,000 lb) of cargo over a distance of 1,000 km (620 mi), or 20 t (44,000 lb) for 2,700 miles (4,345.3 kilometers).
  • An-7X: A proposed version of the An-70 intended for the Western European market.
  • An-77: Proposed in July 2017 for joint development between the US and Ukraine, this modernized version of the An-70 would fill the gap between the 21-metric-ton payload (23-short-ton) C-130 and the 76-metric-ton payload (84-short-ton) C-17]. It could also replace the An-12 and Il-76 military transporters. At the Eurasia Airshow in April 2018, Antonov announced that it would work with Turkey's Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in redeveloping the An-77 aircraft to meet current-day requirements.
  • An-112KC: A proposed aerial refueling version of the An-70, except with two jet engines from the team of U.S. Aerospace and Antonov for the US Air Force's KC-X program. The USAF rejected the proposal, and the appeal was later dismissed.
  • An-170: A heavy-lift version with a stretched fuselage and greater wing span. The aircraft would be powered by the Progress D-227, a more powerful derivative of the Progress D-27 producing 16,000–17,000 hp (12,000–13,000 kW) of output.
  • An-188: A program to develop this variant was launched at the 2015 Paris Air Show. This variant will essentially be a four jet engine powered heavy-medium transport with modernized NATO- compatible western cockpit, slightly enlarged wings, winglets and aerial refueling capabilities. The An-188 is intended to fill the gap between a C-130 and C-17 while being a direct competitor to the A400M. Plans include incorporating a western engine option along with the D-27 to appeal to western markets and reduce dependency on eastern markets. In May 2018, Ukroboronprom announced at the Eurasia-2018 Airshow held in Turkey's Antalya, that Ukraine and Turkey had agreed to jointly implement the production of the aircraft.

Users[edit | edit source]

  • Russia
    • Russian Air Force
  • Turkey
    • Turkish Air Force
  • Ukraine
    • Ukrainian Air Force

See Also[edit | edit source]