An-124 Condor

High payload, long range cargo aircraft.

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History

Introduced in 1982 as a long range, heavy lift cargo and troop transport aircraft, the Antonov An-124 Ruslan (NATO designation Condor) is currently the world's largest and heaviest payload aircraft in production in the world. Outclassing the C-5 Galaxy by nearly 20 tons in payload capacity, and the Ilyushin Il-76 by more than 100 tons, the An-124 is only exceeded in lifting ability by the special purpose An-225 Mriya (NATO designation Cossack) which was purpose built to transport the Russian space shuttle, and of which only two were built.

Currently in production at the AVIASTAR facility in Ulyanovsk and the AVIANT State Aviation Plant in Kiev, the An-124, in addition to serving with the Russian military as a long range high payload cargo aircraft capable of delivering or airdropping troops, and equipment, is also in service with a number of civilian organizations as a dedicated cargo transport. Antonov Airlines, Volga-Dniepr, and Poliot all employ the An-124, using it to transport heavy and over sized equipment such as hydraulic turbines, mobile cranes, railway locomotives, earthmovers and dump trucks, and sailing vessels. The An-124 is even capable of transporting other aircraft, ferrying partially disassembled passenger planes to customers worldwide.

To facilitate the loading and unloading of cargo, the nose section is hinged to open upwards, and the tail section is fitted with a pair of clamshell doors. Both nose and tail sections are equipped with integral loading ramps. In addition, the An-124 also employs two traveling cranes, two winches, a rollgang and tie down equipment which limit it's dependence on ground equipment for cargo handling and manipulation. The Ruslan is equipped with multi leg, self-orienting landing gear and is rough surface capable. The landing gear height can be adjusted on the ground, to facilitate loading cargo.

In addition to the An-124-100 currently in production, Air Foyle (UK) in conjunction with Antonov and Aviastar has proposed the construction of two new versions, the An-124-210, and the An-124-100M. Both versions will be equipped with Western and Russian digital instruments and displays which will reduce the crew size from 6 to 4. In addition, both will be equipped with a traffic alert collision and avoidance system, ground proximity warning system and a satellite communications system. The 210 will be outfitted with Rolls-Royce RB211-52H-T engines, while the 100M will be equipped with the Series 3 D-18 engines, produced by the Progress Design Bureau in Zaporozhe. Each of these engine upgrades will increase the Ruslan's range by 10% and reduce take off distance.

Description

Typical of most cargo aircraft, the An-124 body forms a thick oval cross-section, with a tapered aft section and rounded nose to facilitate cargo handling. The fuselage is of a twin deck design, the upper deck being the flight deck, and the lower deck serving as the cargo hold. On the flight deck are the cockpit, with stations for the six crewmembers, a relief crew compartment, and seating for an additional 88 passengers. The loadmaster's station is on the cargo deck.

The wings are mounted high on the fuselage at a negative dihedral, are tapered and swept, with a relatively high cross-section to increase efficiency and range. The four Lotarev D-18T turbofans are mounted on pylons underneath the wings. The horizontal stabilizers are also swept back and tapered, and are mounted at mid level on the fuselage, aft of the vertical stabilizer.