AN-70 - Cargo Aircraft of a New Generation

     The AN-70 aircraft belongs to a new generation of the short takeoff and landing tactical military medium transport.

     AN-70 is capable to carry practically any item of the military armament and equipment nomenclature with a total weight up to 35-47 t of cargo over the 3,000-5100 km range at cruising speed of 700-750 km/h, air drop of personnel and vehicles, including the single piece of cargoes up to 21 t with both high and low altitudes, delivery of 300 soldiers and evacuation of 206 wounded and sick persons. Maximum service range is 8,000 km. Depending on the type of operation and takeoff weight, AN-70 can be operated both from the concrete runways of the 1550-1800 m length with an average-strength covering and unpaved strips of the 600-700 m length with a low covering strength. With the short takeoff and landing regime, when operating from the 600-700 m length unpaved runways, AN-70 is capable to carry 20 t of cargo to the 3,000 km range.

     Four D-27 engines with the SV-27 counter-rotating propfans ensure a high cruising speed and 20-30% fuel economy in comparison with modern turbojet airplanes. The integrated digital system of the airborne equipment provides operation of the aircraft at all latitudes, around-the-clock, in the VFR and IFR weather conditions, the flights over the military dispositions, the takeoff and landing from the unequipped unpaved airfields. Application of the equipment with the multiplex channels of data exchange makes it possible to modify and adapt easily the onboard avionics to any version.

     The build-in aerial delivery system ensures the autonomous loading/unloading of the wide range of cargoes and their air dropping. The onboard loading equipment consists of four overhead rail electric motor hoists with a total cargo lifting capacity of 12 t, two onboard electric winches with the 1.5-ton tractive effort each. At customer request the aircraft can be equipped with the easily removable upper deck or roller conveyer to automate the container handling operations.

     The onboard monitoring and diagnostic systems make possible the autonomous operation of the AN-70 aircraft from the poorly equipped airfields without application of any special ground facilities. The aircraft maintenance is based on the “on-condition” strategy.

     High technical and operational potential of the AN-70 aircraft allows to create on its basis the entire range of the variants and modifications for the military and civil purposes: aircraft equipped with EWS, flying command post, patrol aircraft, tanker and the AN-70T civil-aviation family.

     The International Consortium, the Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA), has been founded in 1996. Among the MTA founders, besides ANTONOV ASTC, there were the aircraft commercial production factories, the aircraft engine and equipment designers, some business corporations and governmental representatives. The MTA Consortium forms and executes the joint research and development activity, production, economical and foreign trade activities, provides the long-term cooperation and unification of the financial, physical and other resources to solve the issues of the AN-70 certification, production, marketing, leasing, and after-sale support. The MTA Consortium is the only juridical person who possesses the right of the AN-70 aircraft designer and manufacturer.

     Nowadays the AN-70 aircraft is comming to the end of flight and certification tests, programme.