Should we buy some AN-225s, the largest transport plane in the world?

If there still struggling to get the second one off the ground then if we buy one then how long will it take for us to build plus think about the military ability not much compared to the C 17s and C 5's ability and the runways would have to be expanded.
Look at the new A380 only a few airports can accept them because of the runway length.
Plus whats it going to have as a defence weapon. It would take years to get them into service. This airship would be better www.geocities.com...

reply to post by Semoro


All bang on assessments but the airship in a Cargo role even has some issues. One is throughly testing tech and proof of concept (insert V-22 reference here) & defense which is a issue you already brought up in your point against the Myria. Oh by the way welcome to the forums and if need anything like clarification on posting images etc feel free to ask. For the most part the aviation group and regulars that post here are great and are at all different levels of knowledge in different parts of the great world of aviation. See you on the forums!
Canada_EH

Maybe for the defense ( Airship ) 4 automated anti air weapons on a platform curved to fit the airship that an only fire above a certain angle. And when unloading 4 turrets at the bottom where cargo is held. Its not exactly the best but it should give moderate cover. The plane is useless as a military plane. I can't think of a defense to even consider except for so anti air guns which are acessable by pilots by a deck above cargo hold.


-> Deck -----------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------

Well assuming that spare parts are readily available and the Total cost of ownership is reasonable I couldn't see the AN-225 being used by FEMA even if it doesn't meet the requirements of the US military . Twelve AN-225 would give FEMA plenty of capacity to move humanity aid. Mind you other more versatile aircraft would probably be better in the role.

I don't think that building any new AN-225s is being planned by Antonov. However, the An-225 has the same fuselage cross section as the An-124, and Antonov does have a stretched An-124-300 in the works. It would have a smaller payload than the An-255 but would have similar internal volume as the latter and a higher payload than the An-124-100.
The reason for the An-225 with 6 engines was because the engine used was the largest and most powerful the Soviets had at the time. They have since made progress and have increased the output of the Lotarev D-18s engines, so that they no longer require adding engines to increased take-off weight.

Also, as far as I know (I may be wrong) the only major parts missing to complete the other An-225 are the wings which were built at the TAPO factory in Tashkent where the IL-76 are manufactured (which does not mean it will ever be completed)

[edit on 10-2-2008 by A Taxpayer]

The wings of the An 225 are exactly the same as those of the An 124 but mated to a new inboard section which also holds the additional two engines, I can't imagine it would be beyond Antonov to manufacture this section?

Originally posted by FredT

Remember unless Im mistaken that monster is seldom flies outside the borders of the old USSR because of its older aviaonics etc.

Well, it's been here and there. And on February 2nd 2008, it was in Tel Aviv, Israel. Maybe it was there regarding some kind of delivery to Chad? I don't know...

reply to post by A Taxpayer

Also, as far as I know (I may be wrong) the only major parts missing to complete the other An-225 are the wings which were built at the TAPO factory in Tashkent where the IL-76 are manufactured (which does not mean it will ever be completed) ]/quote]

For some time now TAPO has been owned by Russians. They hold the controlling packet, that 51st percent, so they can pretty much do what ever they want. Then there are also the Chinese contracts that will finance further development.

IL-76s will be assembled in Russia

02.02.2007 12:53 msk

Ferghana.Ru news agency

The Russian leadership is decided: serial assembly of IL-76 will be moved to Russia. These military transport planes are assembled in Tashkent nowadays, by the Aircraft Manufacturer named after Valery Chkalov, and have been for the last 30 years. At least 1,000 planes of various modifications were assembled in Tashkent. Disintegration of the USSR doomed the Tashkent factory - along with all of the aircraft assembly industry of the former Soviet Union. Two dozens planes at best were made in Tashkent between 1991 and 2006.

The Tashkent factory is past recovery now, the fact that finally persuaded the government of Russia to take over the IL-76 production. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed the appropriate resolution on December 20, 2006. The decision would have made front lines in tabloids but for the end of the year when its importance was unappreciated and the resolution itself was all but neglected by Russian media outlets. Moreover, paperwork is not over yet. There is an IL-76 contract with the People's Republic of China to be fulfilled,, and the Tashkent factory is recognized in it as the parent enterprise.

Rosoboroneksport and China signed the contract for 34 IL-76MD military transport planes and four IL-78 flying tankers in September 2005. Experts estimate the deal at $1.45 billion. Now that the government passed the resolution and Industry and Energy Ministry signed a contract with Ilyushin Aircraft Company on December 25, 2006, it is Ilyushin that is in charge of the Chinese contract. Rosoboroneksport intends to sign a special accord contract with it. What information was available at one point indicated that it might be signed in January 2007, but no such reports were made that month. Absence of the accord in the meantime interferes with contract fulfillment. Beijing expects the first military-transport planes from Russia in 2007.

enews.ferghana.ru...

Guys, several of you keep calling the Antonov 225 "Russian" and Antonov Airlines "A Russian company".

The Antonov Design Bureau used to be in the USSR, in what was the Soviet Repiblic of Ukraine. Today, however, it is located in Kiev, the capital of an independent country called Ukraine. The sole An-225 is registered and certified in UKraine, not Russia. It is flown by Ukrainian pilots, type certificated in Ukraine, not Russia. Antonov Airlines is state owned, but the Ukraine, not the Russian State, owns it.

About ever making more An-225s, there is an uncompleted An-225 fuselage at Kiev but I don't think Antonov has any plans of ever manufacturing the An-225 again. What they have plans for is to make a stretched An-124 called the An-124-300. It would not have the 250 ton payload of the 225 but would have an internal volume pretty close to it, with a payload around 150 tonnes or more.
Also, the reason Antonov 22s (80 tonnes), An12s (120 tonnes), An-225 (250 tonnes) and IL-76s (50 tonnes) are used by every one is just because they have no civilian equivalent in the west. The C-5 and C-17 are both military aircraft flown only by the military. There are no C-5s or C-17 civilian type certificates and no civilian companies own any. Boeing, a private company, cannot just go a rent a C-5 from the US Air Force, that is just no possible.

The largest civilian certified ramped aircraft in the west is the Belfast, which can only carry about 30 tonnes if my memory if good, and there is only one left flying I think.

Hell yea we cant let them middle east people have something better than we do so yea we need to buy some

-Guys, several of you keep calling the Antonov 225 "Russian"-

Actually, Antonov him self is Russian, as is his design bureau. Full name - Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov. It's as Russian as Bob Smith is American. Russian names differ from Ukrainian just as much as American names differ from Mexican names. Like Aleksander Zakharov for example, one of the Russian engineers from Antonovs bureau.

Real basic stuff here. Let me put it this way, just because there are Ford plats in Mexico, it doesn’t mean that Ford F-150 is a "Mexican" truck. It's not a "Martinez F-150", it's a FORD.


"In 1930, Antonov graduated from the Kalinin Polytechnical Institute in Leningrad. In 1946, he was appointed head of the aircraft design bureau, that was later moved to Kiev.

Antonov was a Doctor of Science, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1968), Hero of Socialist Labor (1966), member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 5th, 6th and 7th convocations."

en.wikipedia.org...

Leningrad is St. Petersburg, the very heart of Russia, the city which was the Russian capital before the commies took over in 1917 and proclaimed Moscow as the capital.

Just as with the rest of ex-Soviet tech sector, Antonovs bureau was staffed with Russians.

That aside, Antonov NEVER made any planes, it WAS a design bureau, not a manufacturing plant, and never was one.

"The An-124 was manufactured in parallel by two plants: the Russian company Aviastar-SP (ex. Ulyanovsk Aviation Industrial Complex) and by the Kyiv Aviation Plant AVIANT, in Ukraine. Series production ceased with the break up of the Soviet Union. The last five unfinished airframes left from the Soviet times were completed in 2001 (1), 2002 (1), and 2004 (3). While currently no An-124 are being produced, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to resume the production in the Q3 2008.[4]"

en.wikipedia.org...

Here's how the "Ukrainian" Aviant plant got started;

-Kyiv “Aviant” State Aircraft Plant was established by decision of the War Industry Council on September 9, 1920 under the name of "State Aircraft Plant 12" (GAZ-12). It consisted of small uncoordinated workshops and until the war was located on Garmatna Street.

The plant performed overhaul of foreign aircraft models used by the military. It had no aerodrome of its own, and aircraft were tested at Post-Volynsky aerodrome (Zhuliany). In 1922 the plant was renamed “Remvozdukh-6”. In 1925 the first domestic aircraft, the K-1, was designed and built under guidance of the designer Konstantin Kalinin.-

en.wikipedia.org...

Konstantin Kalinin - yet another Russian aircraft designer.

-Aircraft designer Konstantin Kalinin moved to Kharkov and became a director of aircraft design bureau organized by Ukrvozdoukhput' (Ukrainian Air Way).
...
Konstantin Kalinin was appointed a chief designer and a director of the new aircraft manufacturing company.

December 12

Konstantin Kalinin was appointed chief designer, and Leonid Mandryko became a director.
...
Konstantin Kalinin organized a division of aircraft design bureau called "the department of experimental aircraft building of the Ukrainian Air Way society" and became the chief designer of this division.
...
Director and Chief Designer Konstantin Kalinin is awarded with the order of Red Labor Banner.
...
Konstantin Kalinin is appointed a chief aircraft designer and director of HAZ.-

www.zoominfo.com...

www.aviation.ru...

Anybody sees a pattern yet? It's a Soviet thing. Russians were sent to Ukraine to create an aircraft industry. Similarly with other republics and all kinds of industries.

-and Antonov Airlines "A Russian company".-

Oh come on, this is so simple, just look things up.

-Volga-Dnepr Airlines is an airline based in Ulyanovsk, Russia. It operates scheduled and charter passenger and cargo services, but specialises in outsize cargo operations using the world's largest fleet of Antonov An-124 aircraft. Its main base is Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY), Ulyanovsk and it has a hub at Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo Airport (KJA), Krasnoyarsk.-

-The airline was established in August 1990 as a joint stock company by its 3 major shareholders: Aviastar, Antonov Design Bureau and Motor Sich. It started operations in October 1991. It entered a marketing agreement with UK-based HeavyLift offering the Antonov An-124 on the world cargo market, but this has now ceased. It became the first carrier in Russia, which was not part of Aeroflot, to start operations in outsize cargo. In April 2000 the privately owned Russian defence industry investor Kaskol acquired a 48% stake later bringing it up to 50% in the airline. At the end of 2005, KASKOL sold its stake in the airline, due to its discontent with the company's management's strategy.
Volga-Dnepr is in a group of 11 companies. In 2004 a new cargo subsidiary called AirBridge Cargo was established to provide scheduled cargo services.
Maintenance services in Shannon (Ireland) and Sharjah (UAE) operate as independent companies under the Volga-Dnepr group.
Antonov Airlines terminated its joint venture with Air Foyle Heavylift on 30 June 2006 to allow it to pursue a joint marketing venture with its erstwhile competitor Volga-Dnepr under the name Ruslan International[1], in which it has a 50% stake.-

en.wikipedia.org...

Same page;

-Volga-Dnepr AN-124 at Moffett Federal Airfield transporting USAF helicopters to Afghanistan-

So yeah, get the facts first, post later.

Russians have been busy buying everything they can for over a decade. If they could not buy straight out, they'd buy through third parties, just like with Airbus/EADS.

Even when can't simply buy out a 51% controlling packet, they simply buy enough companies to establish control, and then they roll it all up. All those petrol dollars hard at work.

reply to post by FredT


like many craft in the american inventory...the Ant-225 has constantly been upgraded with better avionics... its capable of roaming the world at least 1 time over.