Antonov An-70

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 16^th 1994 in Kiev, Ukraine. It is in service in the Russian and Ukrainian air forces.

Variants

• 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

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

See Also

• Airbus A400M Atlas
• Bombardier CC-230 Bison
• Ilyushin Il-76
• Kawasaki C-2
• Lockheed C-141 Starlifter