Air Weapons

Heavy Transport (1988)

Antonov

An-225 Mriya 'Cossack'

An-225 Mriya 'Cossack'

The title for world's largest aircraft today belongs to the massive Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream). Designed as an enlarged version of the An-124, this six-engined behemoth was intended as part of the Soviet space program specifically built to carry the now-cancelled Buran space shuttle. While retaining many of the features of its predecessor, the An-225 can be easily distinguished by a redesigned tail with twin vertical tailfins, an incredible 32-wheel landing gear system, as well as the removal of the rear cargo door. Despite not being designed as a military transport, it has enormous potential because of the unprecedented cargo it can take and has been extensively leased to foreign operators including the US government for use in the Middle East. Overall it represents the pinnacle of Soviet-era transport design and such is its demand that a second unit is scheduled to be built by 2008 at the latest.

First flight of the An-225 'Cossack' was undertaken on 21 December 1988. During that flight it broke 106 world records for payload and size and was set to be the carrier for the Buran space shuttle and the Energia's booster rockets. Only one unit was built, it was taken into storage after the collapse of the USSR but has now been extensively reworked as a special cargo transport with another unit in the works.

Preceded by:

An-124 Ruslan 'Condor' (1986)

Succeeded by:

None

Datafile

DesignAn-225
NameMriya
Code NameCossack
TypeTransport
Year1988
Crew6
Dimensions
Length84 m
Height18.100 m
Wing Span88.40 m
Wing Arean/a
Weight
Empty100,000 kg
Maximum100,000 kg
Wing Loading110.5 kg/m²
Performance
Speed850 km/h
Ceiling10,000 m
Range4,000-14,000 km
Powerplant
Engine6 x D-18T
Zaporozhye/Lotarev
23,400 kgf
Thrust/Weight1.28
Armament
Guns-
Payload100,000 kg
Production
Built1
Total1

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